A Heart of Steel
by The Oracle
Summary: Set after A Crack in Time. Ratchet and Clank set out to explore an uncharted galaxy, and discover two fascinating residents...along with a very real threat to the whole Universe. Rated T for some violence and mild language.
1. Welcoming Party

Disclaimer: The following is a brainstorm I had upon playing Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. This also has elements from the 1987 Japanese series "Cho Jinki Metalder". I do not own the rights to either franchise, nor is this story intended for any profit.

Also, I am not 100% familiar with the Ratchet and Clank universe, so forgive me if any inconsistencies in the timeline pop up. :-)

Enjoy!

* * *

The Omega Sector…also known as the Great Unknown.

This was the destination that a familiar young Lombax, and his robotic partner, now flew into. For years, they had heard the stories of how few would dare to venture into this sector. Those who would, often, would never return.

"I must say, Ratchet…" Clank spoke up as he looked out of a window. "I understand that you want to do a bit of exploring…but perhaps we could have easily found another sector, one without as much…mystery as this one."

Ratchet heard him, but didn't answer for the moment. He was simply too distracted. It had not been long since he both fought, and lost, General Alistar Azimuth, the only other Lombax that knew all about his father.

"Ratchet?" Clank asked again.

"Ratchet…If you keep staring out at those stars like that, I'll most likely have to peel you from the windows."

"Huh?" Ratchet finally responded, snapping out of his haze. "Sorry Clank…I was just…thinking."

Clank nodded slowly, as he left it at that. He knew what Ratchet was thinking about all too well, and didn't want to press it any further. He couldn't even imagine what he was feeling now.

Clank had at least gotten to know about his creator, and father, Orvus, in much detail. Ratchet never had that chance, and he never would, especially now that the General was dead.

After what seemed like hours of silence, Ratchet finally spoke up.

"Look, Clank…" He gazed over at his little friend for a moment. "I know this all seems sudden, and unusual…but to me, it makes perfect sense. I've always wanted to go on an expedition like this, and be the first one to map out the Great Unknown. After all that's happened recently, I just thought I owed it to myself to finally follow my dreams, and do it."

Ratchet nodded slowly. "Well, we have certainly tackled bigger mysteries and problems than this one…plus, if we do map out this sector, it would certainly increase our standing in the universe by a substantial margin…it does seem like a good opportunity."

The little robot then put his metal hand near Ratchet's. "Whatever you decide to do…I shall be by your side for it at all times. I owe you at least this much, from all the times you've assisted me."

Ratchet smiled, and shook the Robot's little hand. "Thanks, Buddy…"

Clank then sat back, and prepared to relax for a while, before Ratchet suddenly looked out of the window, and began to ease up on the ship's throttle.

"Hello…" his eyes grew wide. "I think we've found ourselves a planet."

"Indeed?" Clank quickly sat up and looked out, as he then punched away at a console in front of him, analyzing the planet.

"Yes…" he spoke up. "It does look habitable. It mostly seems to be desert and mountains, but there are a few water sources as well."

Ratchet nodded quickly. "Well, I've been flying for a while now, and I need a place to land and rest. Let's check it out."

Clank nodded in agreement, as Ratchet slowly brought the Aphelion into the atmosphere. Sand blew into the window a bit, as He looked down, and saw what looked like an elevated landing pad in the middle of the sand, near what seemed to be an empty building.

The Aphelion carefully set down on the dilapidated pad, as its cockpit flipped open. Ratchet quickly hopped out onto the ground, getting his first breath of fresh air in some time as he savored it, and stretched, Clank on his back as usual.

After stretching, Ratchet looked down and examined the rusted, cracked surface of the landing pad, much of it covered in sand.

"Looks like no one's been here for a while…" Ratchet commented, as he then looked to the empty building near the pad.

"Ratchet, get down!" Clank suddenly called out from behind.

Ratchet quickly ducked down behind a metal crate, as a blast of green energy whizzed past his head.

"Whoa!" He quickly peeked up from the crate and looked around. "I guess there IS someone here."

"It looked so strange…" Clank narrowed his eyes. "But familiar at the same time."

Ratchet wondered what he was talking about, before he finally caught a glimpse of his would-be assailant. It was black, with silver trim, and red eyes, the exposed wires and bolts confirming that it was some kind of robot.

But there was more. This robot had rather large metallic ears, and a ribbed wire that looked like a tail.

"Hey…" he realized. "That thing…it looks a lot like a Lombax…"

Clank nodded from behind. "Strange…why would there be a robot that looked like something from another system, and in such an obscure sector?"

Before the two could mull over the possibilities, the crate suddenly exploded in front of them. Ratchet tumbled and fell over the edge of the elevated pad, turning on his hoverboots as he plummeted.

The duo slowly made their way onto the sand now, as Ratchet looked up and saw a whole pack of these robots descending upon them. Within seconds, the two found themselves surrounded.

"It seems we have run afoul of someone in this sector…" Clank commented.

"Already?" Ratchet sighed. "That's gotta be a record for us."

The leader of these robots soon walked out into the sand, and confronted Ratchet.

"In the name of High Commander Neross…" It spoke in a threatening, and dark, distorted voice. "You will identify yourself!"

"Uhhhh…" The Lombax hesitated for a moment. "Ratchet?"

The robot then scanned him with a beam from its red eyes, going up and down his form, before stopping around his chest.

"What is that device you are carrying?" It asked him, pointing behind towards Clank.

"Why do you want to know…" Ratchet's expression hardened, always quick to protect his friend.

"It is not your place to ask questions!" The Robot responded, as it then aimed what looked like a blaster on its wrist. "Give the device to me now, or you will not survive!"

"All right, all right…" Ratchet put up his hands for a moment, making it look like he was going to relent, as he reached behind him. Instead of Clank, however, he quickly got a hold of his omniwrench.

"It's all yours!" He shouted, as he swung the wrench, and smashed off the robot's arm at the elbow, making sparks fly.

"Terminate him now!" The robot roared, before Ratchet swung the wrench into its head, smashing it into pieces and disabling its voice, as the other robots opened fire with their blasters.

Ratchet quickly rolled out of the way, and got out his constructo pistol, firing. The blasts managed to smash into the bodies of two robots, causing bolts and wires to fly everywhere, as he strafed to avoid the fire from the robots he had missed.

"There never seems to be a shortage of evil robots…" Ratchet grumbled, looking up and seeing reinforcements coming down from the sky, flying in from other parts of the planet. He quickly took out a constructo bomb, and tossed it into the air, taking out a few more of these robots with a big explosion.

Meanwhile…

The explosion from the constructo bomb had attracted the attention of another ship that was in the area. This one was shaped quite a bit like the Aphelion, only larger, a small freighter of sorts.

In the seat of the cockpit was the form of a female Lombax, dressed in a green vest, blue jeans, and a red bandanna, controlling the ship as it flew. With her, was what looked like a male Lombax, dressed in a blue jacket with a white shirt, and black pants.

"That didn't look like any kind of weapon the Skabs would carry…" The female narrowed her eyes as she said this, identifying the robots.

"You're correct…" The male spoke in a cool, calculating tone of voice. "It would seem they have discovered someone who has a considerable amount of firepower in their possession."

He then gazed at her, curiously. "Do you wish to bring them assistance?"

The female then grinned in her fascinated, Lombax way. "Yeah, I think we should. If these guys can give the Skabs this big of a headache, imagine what we could do with their help against the others."

She then pressed a button, and opened the back door of the freighter.

"Go ahead, Rusty!" She smiled to the male and nodded towards the opening. "I'll catch up!"

"As you wish…" he nodded, as he then rose from his seat, and calmly walked over to the opening. He looked down over the sand, with no evidence of concern in his eyes, and soon dove from the opening, falling through the sky…

Ratchet quickly tried to run back to his ship, turning and catching the pursuing robots with a few Tesla spikes. The lightning from these weapons shocked and disabled many of them, as he finally reached the pad…only to find another pack of robots guarding it.

One of them fired, clipping Ratchet in the shoulder.

"Ahh!" Ratchet shouted, as he then dove under the pad, taking cover near the column that elevated it. He quickly checked himself.

"Are you all right?" Clank asked with genuine concern from behind.

"Yeah…yeah, I'll be fine…" Ratchet tended to the slightly singed part of his furred shoulder, as he then looked up and saw another pack of robots landing, with him in their sights.

"I think…" he swallowed a little. He then quickly took out his Negotiator, and prepared to let the robots have it with a single blast…

Before he could even aim, though, he saw the form of the male Lombax come down from above, and land right in front of the pad near Ratchet. The ground shook just a little, and sand blew around him, as he landed on one knee, and slowly stood up.

"It's the renegade!" One of the robots shouted towards Rusty as he stood up. "Focus all firepower on him!"

Ratchet didn't even get to ask the Lombax who he was, when he suddenly heard a beeping noise under his standing body.

"Combat form!" Rusty shouted, facing down his enemies.

A force field shot out around him, protecting him from enemy fire, as he held his arms out at his sides a bit, and a blue light could be seen spinning in the right side of his chest, along with a whirring, computerized sound. Bolts of energy surged through his body, as his organic façade slowly faded, piece-by-piece with each bolt, revealing a robotic form underneath.

The robot still looked very Lombax-like. Half of his body was red, the other blue, as his blank yellow eyes glowed with power. His processor spun to full power in the right side of his chest, creating the plasma energy that he seemed to run on, as pistons pushed and pumped within his body at the same time. He grasped at each of his wrists for a second, readying himself as the field came down.

"Stranger, and stranger…" Clank commented, as Rusty sprang into action. He grabbed the wrist of a Skab that tried to fire at Ratchet, and delivered a karate chop with his free arm, decapitating the robot.

"Well, at least this one seems to be on our side…" Ratchet grunted as he took out his buzz blade weapon, firing a saw at another robot that approached him, as it sliced and diced the machine into a pile of scrap in a matter of seconds.

"Do not be concerned, stranger…" Rusty spoke to Ratchet in a distorted, but much more benign sounding voice. "Help is on the way!"

Ratchet nodded, and finally got to fire his negotiator, taking out a larger group of robots with an explosion, as Rusty spun and punched another robot in the stomach, letting loose with a burst of plasma from his palm, blowing it away from him as it dashed away and onto some nearby rocks, smashing apart.

Ratchet prepared to back him up with another blast from his negotiator, before he heard the sound of a ship whooshing in from above. He looked behind him to see the descending form of the freighter that Rusty had dropped from, setting down onto the sand nearby.

The back door opened, turning into a ramp, as the female lombax's tall, skinny form now sat in a heavily modded jet bike. A helmet covered most of her face, as she revved the bike a bit and pressed a button in front of her.

A scream came from the speakers on the bike, as a speed metal song she had recorded from another unknown sector blared through, and provided her with inspiration for her attack. She zoomed down onto the scene, and pulled out a large wrench of her own, charging in like a medieval jouster.

She quickly slashed the wrench at a Skab that had dared to try and jump her from the side, putting a huge gash in the chest armor of the robot as it flew back with sparks flying.

Ratchet saw the android in front of him more than holding his own against the other Skabs, so he decided to turn on his hooverboots, and zoom out to meet the jet bike. The masked rider quickly spotted him, and offered the left flank of her bike to grab onto.

Ratchet complied quickly, and held on, as he then whipped out his constructo shotgun, while the rider fired off a machine gun from inside the nose of the bike. He immediately saw a Skab coming towards his side, and blasted it in the chest, as the rider quickly tossed her wrench into the face of another that tried to jump directly into her seat, smashing it.

The two quickly made short work of their enemies as they zoomed around the desert, while Rusty was busy, kicking and punching around the remaining skabs. He waited for the right moment, and held out his right hand, as a slot opened on the bottom section, below his pinky.

Plasma energy gathered in this slot, making the bottom of his arm glow to the elbow, as he then charged in once more, and punched multiple enemies with the same hand.

He then singled out the last of the group, as the others writhed and fell from the deadly plasma shot into their bodies. He jumped into the air, and then nailed it across the chest with a diagonal karate chop as he came down. The surge of energy caused the Skab to explode into nothingness, along with the others at the same time.

Ratchet soon detached from the bike, as he went towards the last robot he saw, and let him have it with a baseball swing from his omniwrench, literally knocking its block off, as he then switched off his hoverboots, and took a moment to rest.

He then looked up to see the form of the blue and red android walking towards him. He just stood there, not quite sure what to make of it, or the rider, as the android soon walked close and extended his hand in a gesture of friendship…

Then, his processor suddenly stopped spinning…

Rusty froze in his tracks, just a few feet away from Ratchet and Clank. The clicking of his pistons stopping could be heard too, as the body of the android lurched forward, and collapsed, face first, onto the sand.

"Aww man!" The female suddenly called out as she stepped off of her bike, taking off her helmet as she ran over to Rusty.

"I thought I fixed that damn thing!" She grunted as she turned Rusty onto his back, and examined his chest plate.

"Ratchet…" Clank spoke in surprise as the Lombax exposed her face. "She's-"

"I know…" Ratchet looked on with a surprised face, eyes wide, as the female furrowed her brow and thought about something, checking another part of Rusty's chest plate.

"Ah!" She suddenly smiled. "It's just out of alignment…" She then tapped his chest plate a little with her wrench, making it spin to life once more.

The android's hand twitched a bit, as he then sat up, and slowly stood once more with the female. She looked over at Ratchet's surprised face, and slowly began to look evenly befuddled…but not for the same reasons.

"Do we get a 'thank you'?" She asked him, curiously, as Clank detached from his back.

"Oh! Yeah! Thanks!" Ratchet nodded quickly. "Thanks, miss…"

"Rivet…" She giggled a bit as she adjusted her bandanna. "Call me Rivet."

Ratchet nodded again. "Ratchet…nice to meet you Rivet."

Rivet smiled, just a little, as Clank walked over to Rusty.

"Re-engaging Chameloid Circuit…" He spoke, as he returned to his male Lombax form.

"It is indeed a great joy to find a fellow automaton in this sector…" Clank proclaimed, happily. "My name is XJ-0461. But you may call me 'Clank'. What is your designation?"

"I am prototype model MT-9516." The android answered, matter-of-factly. "But I am often referred to as 'Rusty'."

"Rusty…" Clank repeated the name as he nodded. "Why do you go by that particular nickname?"

"Because he always needs a LOT of oil…" Rivet giggled again as she answered for her partner.

"So, what were those things that attacked us?" Ratchet asked Rivet, pointing to the remains of the robots.

"Special Korthos Armored Battalion…" She answered as she hopped back onto her bike with her helmet. "Skabs, for short."

"I see…" Ratchet nodded, as Rusty soon joined her on the bike.

"Look, I know we both have a lot of questions for each other now…" Rivet gave him a serious look. "But we need to get out of here before more of them arrive. Follow me, and I'll take you to a spot where they won't find us."

"Will do!" Ratchet called out as she drove off towards the freighter, while he headed back to the Aphelion with Clank.

* * *

The figure of a grizzled, adult male Lombax stood in his tower, looking out through the glass window onto the work being performed by the Skabs, and other robots far below him. He was dressed in an austere, black armor, highlighted by green, glowing trim on his arms and around his waist, a symbol painted onto the left side of the chest armor.

The door to his office opened, as the form of what looked like a much more advanced robot walked in, a long cape attached to the large headpiece and shoulder pads. Two small antennae extended from the sides of the helmet, as the face was one triangular visor, a long sword sheathed at his side.

"Commander…" he called to the Lombax in a wavering voice as he bowed.

"Ah, Decimus…" The Lombax turned to his creation.

"You sent for me?"

The Lombax nodded slowly. "A Lombax ship recently landed on Hared III, and its inhabitants gave our troopers a bit of a hard time. I want you to find these individuals, and see what possible connections they may have to the renegades. Engage in combat only if necessary."

"Yes sir…" Decimus bowed again, and walked out of the room.

The Lombax then walked back to his desk, and picked up what looked like a locket, holding it, and looking at it for a long time, almost obsessively.

"The time is drawing nearer…ever nearer…"


	2. Home Sweet Home

The Aphelion followed the freighter for many miles, comets whooshing past the ships for a moment, as the curious Lombax visitor kept his eyes on the ship in front of him at all times.

"I wish she'd be willing to talk with me on the com…" Ratchet lamented as he steered the Aphelion. "All this waiting to ask about what's going on in this sector is killing me."

"Ratchet…" Clank spoke up. "I have been thinking…so far we have met robots that look like Lombaxes, a female Lombax, and an android that can make itself look like a male Lombax. Do you suppose-"

"The Lombaxes came here after Tachyon's betrayal?" Ratchet finished his companion's question, as he rubbed his chin a little in deep thought. "I guess it's possible…but if that were true, we'd see a lot more real Lombaxes. I mean, we've really only met one organic Lombax, and all the rest have been robots."

"A good point." Clank nodded. "I suppose we won't really know, though, until our new ally is willing to talk to us."

"You hear me, Ratchet?" Rivet's voice finally crackled to life on the communicator.

"Loud and clear, Rivet!" Ratchet nodded, almost excitedly.

"Sorry to be so quiet for the whole trip, but I needed to make sure there were no eavesdroppers on the line. The High Commander loves to listen in on any conversations when he can."

"High Commander?" Ratchet furrowed his brow a little.

"Later…" Rivet answered back. "First, I should get you into my home…"

Ratchet saw the freighter move towards a small moon, with a surface covered in the twisted metal of trashed and damaged starships, as well as other busted, useless equipment, strewn all about the rocky surface.

"No offense…" Ratchet looked around a bit as he flew behind. "But this place looks like a garbage dump."

"Exactly!" Rivet responded. "Perfect cover."

He then looked over, and saw the freighter moving over to what looked like the back door of a permanently damaged freighter. The door suddenly opened in front of Rivet's ship, as light seemed to emanate from within.

"Follow me…watch the ceiling." She spoke once more, before flying into the opening. Ratchet nodded and took a firm hold of the Aphelion's controls, moving in after her.

The ship made its way into a smooth, downward passage, which seemed to be constructed by hand with rectangular pieces of ship parts, of many different sizes and colors. One section of the ceiling along the way seemed to be a bit warped, drooping downward a little, as Ratchet made sure to lower the ship a bit, to avoid hitting it.

Within seconds, the duo within the ship floated into a much wider room, situated a few feet within the ground of its moon. It seemed to be a combination living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and lab. It had its very own life support system built into the metal walls that sealed the space from the outside.

The freighter had already landed, leaving a space for the Aphelion, as Ratchet carefully set upon it. The cockpit opened once more, as the Lombax hopped out with his robot friend, walking into the middle of the room, and marveling at its design.

"Welcome to the base of operations." Rivet smiled as she approached the two, with Rusty in tow. "Rusty did most of the building, but I helped as well." She pointed to the suit and oxygen mask hung up in the corner near her bed.

"Wow…" Ratchet smiled in awe, as he looked straight up at the high ceiling. "You guys did this all by yourselves."

"No choice but to…" Rivet shrugged with a small smile. "Me and Rusty have really only had each other, ever since I was a little tyke."

"Really?" Ratchet's eyes widened as he and Clank followed Rivet to a table and sat. "So you never knew your parents either?"

"A fellow orphan, huh?" Rivet's expression softened a bit, as she got out a couple of drinking glasses that she salvaged and cleaned. "Then you know what it's like…drifting along the universe…surviving any way you can…always having questions you'll probably never have answered."

"Story of my life…" Ratchet nodded slowly, as Rivet moved over to an interesting looking device. "And yours too, I guess."

"Well, truth be told…" Rivet pressed a few buttons on the device. "I actually know quite a bit about my parents, thanks to Rusty here. My father, for instance, was a specialist in replication."

As she said this, a glow came from what looked like a glass door on the device, before it died down after a few seconds. She then reached into the door, and pulled out what looked like a glass bottle of some carbonated drink. She poured a little into each glass, and took one over to Ratchet.

Ratchet took the glass, looked at the bubbly, red liquid inside, and sipped.

"Mmm, that's pretty good." He smiled, as Clank took a curious look at the bottle.

"You were able to assemble something like this out of thin air?" The little robot enquired.

"Cell replication in a controlled space." Rusty walked over to Clank as he explained. "A very advanced form. One that my creator, and her father, wanted to take to the next level when he came to this sector."

"Really?" Ratchet heard this as he looked back over to Rivet. "So what happened to him, then? Lab accident?"

Rivet shook her head slowly as she held her glass. "Nope…remember that High Commander I mentioned? He's the reason both my parents are dead." She took another sip and sighed. " It's ridiculous, a Lombax doing that to his own people, after what happened with Fastoon."

"Wait, this guy's a Lombax too?" Ratchet asked her, a little confused.

Rivet nodded. "Before he was a 'High Commander' he was just called Neross. He was an expert in robotics, who got real interested in my Dad's replication technology."

"That is correct." Rusty nodded as he walked back to the table with clank. "My data banks tell me that when Tachyon first came to the Lombaxes, neither Neross or Rivet's father, Groden, fully trusted him. They were determined to show that the Lombaxes alone could achieve major technological advancements on Fastoon. They departed for this sector so that they could work without Tachyon getting any looks at what they were doing."

"And you and your mother went along with them?" Ratchet asked Rivet.

Rivet nodded again as she sat back in her chair. "I was already born at the time, and Dad wanted me to be around him, so he convinced my Mom to come, and take me. Neross had a wife too, but she was still pregnant, so he decided to have her stay and wait for him."

Rusty then explained further. "The two then settled on a hospitable planet in this sector, and put their heads together, creating me. I am the result of Neross' robotic technology, combined with Groden's cell replication technology. I can take the form of an organic Lombax through the use of this…" He motioned to a chip somewhere in his head. "It's called a chameloid circuit."

"Indeed…" Clank examined Rusty's head a little, before looking back to his partner. "Ratchet, your people were even more advanced that I had imagined."

"However…" Rivet's face turned grave at this point. "By the time we returned to Fastoon with Rusty, it was too late. Tachyon had turned on the Lombaxes, and wiped out the ones that were still on the planet…including Neross' wife, and his newborn son."

Ratchet was stunned as he heard this, not sure how to respond, as Rusty nodded, and patted Rivet lightly on the back. "This is where things took a turn for the worse. Upon seeing the bodies of his dead family, Neross attempted to take his own life on Fastoon. Groden knocked him out before he could do it, and fled with him and his family back to this sector. Once Neross awoke, he was inconsolable. He became…very bitter, and angry."

"See, he wasn't just mad at Tachyon for his betrayal." Rivet spoke up. "He got angry at everyone. All the people around Fastoon that he claimed just stood by and did nothing, while our people were annihilated."

Rusty continued. "Then, some months later, Groden discovered that Neross had been secretly constructing his own robots in another part of the planet, prototypes for what would eventually be his Skab units. Neross, at first, offered Groden a partnership in this venture, and asked that he bring him the templates from my chameloid circuit. Groden refused, rushed back to his home, and destroyed the templates, an action that…greatly displeased Neross."

Rivet closed her eyes firmly. "He killed both my Mom and my Dad in cold blood with his new robots. But before he died, Dad programmed Rusty to protect me, at all costs. He took me into my Dad's ship, and escaped before the robots could kill me too."

Rivet wiped away a single tear, as Ratchet watched, sympathetically. He wanted to comfort her, but at the same time, this was a pain he knew all to well, with both his parents, and recently with General Azimuth. He still didn't know what kind of comfort worked for this kind of pain.

"Since that time, I have done what I can to help her, and make sure she lives as happy a life as she can." Rusty patted Rivet on the back some more. "But we are also aware of the power that Neross has amassed since Rivet's youth."

"Let me guess…" Ratchet took a final sip from his glass. "This has something to do with the hostile reception Clank and I got on that last planet."

Rivet nodded. "Neross has spent years putting together an impressive army. Not only robots, but also a wide array of biomechanoid beasts from experiments he's done in the same span of time. He calls his organization Korthos, after the Lombax god of the Underworld. 'The Wrath of Fastoon' he also calls them, sometimes."

Ratchet nodded slowly, just amazed at what he was hearing. "Well, if he's turning into such a threat, then why don't you get out of here, and tell the intergalactic authorities?"

Rivet sighed again. "Because he's nearly ready for an invasion, and we're the only ones who've been able to hold him up for the time being. Every other world in this sector that has stood up to Korthos has been squashed under Neross' thumb."

"And I'm afraid the intergalactic authorities wouldn't put up much of a fight at this stage…" Rusty added. "We have determined that the best way to destroy Korthos would be from the inside."

"Cut the head off the proverbial snake?" Clank nodded. "Seems to be a good enough idea. But how do you intend to do it?"

"That's what we'd been mulling over." Rivet rocked a bit in her chair, before setting her sights on Ratchet. "Until you two came along."

"Us?" Ratchet furrowed his brow.

"Yeah." Rivet smiled a little now. "You guys have access to weapons I've never seen before. Not only that, but you seem almost as clever in battle as me and Rusty!"

"Almost?" Ratchet quirked his eyebrow a bit upon hearing this, crossing his arms.

Rivet giggled. "Oh, so NOW you're gonna turn into the macho, chauvinist type."

Ractchet blushed a little, and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry…so uhhhh…you want us to help you?"

"If you wouldn't mind…" Rusty nodded. "Rivet does have her limits, after all, and I'm getting a bit too old and rusted to keep fi-fi-fi-fi." Rivet gave him a slap in the back, causing him to snap out of his fit. "fighting for so many days in a row. I am only a prototype, after all."

Ratchet nodded a bit, and looked to his partner. "Well, Clank?"

Clank thought it over a second, and nodded. "I believe it may be in the best interests of the Universe that we assist them. Plus, I do enjoy the company of my fellow robots when I have the opportunity."

"Ok then…" Ratchet smiled as he looked back to Rivet. "We're in. When do we start?"

"Patience…" Rivet smiled again as she sat back in her chair. "Tonight we're gonna get some much needed R and R, then tomorrow we head off for Guyvus City."

"There are allies of ours on that world…" Rusty explained. "The government has said that it will not oppose Korthos in any way, but there is an underground movement currently taking place."

"I'm sure with you guys around, though, they'll be a lot more eager to take action." Rivet smiled as she turned on what looked like a radio, as gentle synth pop now played in the room.

Ratchet just sat with Clank now, taking in the music as he sipped his drink. Rusty slowly walked over, and plugged a cable into a battery, then into his chest, beginning to recharge his power supply.

As this was going on, Rivet absent-mindedly began to remove her shirt…she then stopped suddenly, and blushed; remembering she had company, as she quickly pulled it back down.

"Hehe…" She smiled, awkwardly. "I think I can stand to sleep in clothes for the time being."

She walked off, as Ratchet blushed hotly, and continued to sip from his drink, as if nothing had happened.

He then looked over to the recharging Rusty, and shook his head. "You have no idea how good you've got it here…"

Rusty just stared at him blankly, not knowing what he was talking about, as Ratchet sat back in his chair, relaxing for the time being…

* * *

Decimus walked into the room of Neross once more, and bowed obediently to his creator.

"Report…" Neross requested as he turned around in his large, black chair, behind his desk.

"Sir, there has been no sign of the new Lombax within the last few hours. My patrols are currently searching, but it is my belief that he vanished with the renegades upon leaving Hared III."

"As I expected…They ARE connected, somehow…" Neross held his hand to his lips in thought for a moment, before lowering it, and looking back up to Decimus. "Keep your patrols on the lookout for the moment, while I consult the BioMechanoid unit."

"Yes, sir…" Decimus bowed once more, and marched from the room.

Neross then turned, and pressed a button on a monitor above him.

"Toxoid: Report."

The image of a bizarre, reptilian creature in green armor, its head under a small bubble dome, appeared on the screen, with a collection of other strange creatures behind him.

"Here for you as always, Commander…" Toxoid responded in his shrill, growling, high-pitched voice, bowing at the sight of Neross.

"I'm certain that you've heard of what's happened on Hared III. Decimus and the Robotic Corps are still searching for the Lombaxes. Do you have a soldier in the BioMechanoid Corps who can assist them?"

"Indeed I do, sir…" Toxoid nodded as he motioned for someone to walk to the monitor. The frightening form of a snarling, wolf-like creature walked onto the scene, drool dripping from his metal jaws, which were grafted onto his body, his paws ripped out and replaced with hard steel claws, while his middle sported many computerized implants, with wires traveling to and from the mechanical parts of his body.

"This is Lupos, Sir, one of our test subjects from Krios Alpha. As you can see, this proud hunter has become an even more impressive killing machine. Give me your blessing, and he will carve those renegades up into bloody ribbons! Observe!"

He pointed Lupos towards a Skab robot that was walking in the background. Lupos growled and nodded, obeying the order, as he quickly pounced the robot, sinking his teeth into the struggling Skab's neck. Within seconds, he ripped the robot's head off with his metal jaws, and spit it out onto the floor. He then picked up the robot's body, and growled once more, before breaking it in half in a shower of sparks over his head.

"Very nice…" Neross nodded slowly. "Send it out, and see if it can do the same thing to a living creature."

"Right away sir!" Toxoid bowed in appreciation, as Neross switched off the monitor, and turned back towards his desk once more.

The Lombax slowly picked up the locket once more, and opened it, revealing the lovely face of his departed wife inside.

"My love…" He thought to himself. "This is all for you…they will pay for letting you and our child die…they will ALL pay. I swear it to you…"

He closed his eyes, and shut the locket in his hand, his mind now lost in deep thought…


	3. Secret Missions

Ratchet slept in the cockpit of his ship, with his robot companion also at rest. He slowly began to wake up, as he heard the gentle sounds of metal and tools clanging together.

He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes as he slipped out of the Aphelion, stretching and yawning a bit as he walked over to the source of the slight noises.

Rivet was already up, ever the early riser, as she had the true robotic form of Rusty stretched out on a maintenance table in the other side of her home. She had removed parts of his chest plate, and seemed to be doing work on the main processor, which was not currently spinning.

"Morning…" Rivet smiled a bit, as she stayed focused on her work, hearing Ratchet's footsteps from behind.

"Hey…" Ratchet responded, groggily, yawning a little as he watched her.

"What are you doing with Rusty?"

"Oh, he just needs a little maintenance work, before we head out to Guyvus City. Remember when he collapsed earlier? That was because his processor's having some problems staying properly aligned…hopefully, I can get it to stay put this time."

She gritted her teeth just a bit as she carefully ran her wrench along the cylindrical processor. "Not too tight…not too loose…" she muttered to herself.

"You seem to be pretty handy with this kind of technology." Ratchet smiled a little as he walked closer. "I wouldn't know what to do with a robot this advanced without reading up a little first."

"Well…" Rivet kept her attention on her work. "This was all born from necessity…I mean, Rusty's been keeping me safe from Neross and his goons for all these years. I have to make sure he's running properly, right?"

"Right…" Ratchet nodded as he listened, watching her work.

"It's tough work…" Rivet spoke as she began to put Rusty's chest plate back together. "But it's very rewarding to see him running at his best…" She looked at the android's face fondly as she reached to his back. "Rusty's my family now…I hate to think of being in a world without him."

She then found the tiny main power button on his back, and pressed it. Rusty's processor spun to life within his metal body once more, as his eyes glowed to life, while other little spots on his body lit up as well.

The Android slowly got up, and held out his arms, engaging his chameloid circuit. Within seconds, he was in his organic Lombax disguise once again.

"Morning, Rusty." Rivet smiled as she put away her tools. "How're you feeling?"

"Everything is functioning quite well, it seems." Rusty stated as he flexed his fingers, and worked his arms a little. "I hope you got enough rest, Rivet. It always concerns me a bit when you get up so early just to work on me."

"Hey, relax…" She patted him on the back a little. "You've got a mission to accomplish, remember? I need to make sure you're capable of doing it. I also installed a little booster for your plasma injectors, in case we run into any trouble on the way to Guyvus City."

Rusty nodded and examined his chest a little. "Indeed…your father would be quite impressed at how you continue to salvage the junk on this moon into something useful."

"You really think so?" She beamed just a little. "Thanks, Rusty."

"A fine morning to you all." Clank called out as he had reactivated himself just a moment ago, walking in on the scene and looking up at the group.

"A good day to you as well, Clank." Rusty smiled a bit. "I trust you had a pleasant dormant period, and are functioning well within your normal parameters."

"Indeed I am." Clank nodded. "You look to be operating within optimum efficiency as well, Rusty."

Ratchet chuckled a bit and looked to Rivet. "That's robots for you, huh?"

Rivet giggled and nodded as she put away her tools. "It must be a real treat for Rusty…he doesn't often get to meet another robot, at least one that isn't trying to kill him or me."

Ratchet nodded a bit and looked to his ship, and hers. "So, how far away is this Guyvus city?"

"Not too far." Rivet smiled as she prepared some breakfast in her replicator. "It's on the planet Zinjan, which is just within the center of this sector. The people who live there, the Zins, are trying to be neutral in the case of Neross, outside of the underground guys we'll be contacting, so we need to be careful. If Neross' goons catch us there, we need to keep any fights from breaking out in public… or else the government might ban us from returning."

Ratchet just listened before he enquired. "And who are these underground guys, anyway?"

"His name's Dio." Rivet answered as she brought him the food from the machine. "He and his brother, Spurg, have been hooking me up with parts for the ship and Rusty, along with a few weapons." She motioned to a Zin-made pistol on a table nearby, a slender, silvery object. "They've put together a small network of spies on their planet, ever since Rusty and I saved them from one of Neross' ships a few years ago, and the Zin government wouldn't help them."

Ratchet nodded again, as he took a bite of the food given to him. "Mm…you're a hell of a cook."

"It's not me, stupid…" Rivet giggled. "It's the machine."

"Ah yes…" Ratchet laughed a bit and blushed. "The machine…"

The two continued to eat across from each other…

* * *

Toxoid walked down the hallway of his personal cruiser, as Lupos was flexing his body slowly in a storage room.

"How do you feel?" Toxoid asked him. "Are you ready to proceed?"

"Yes, master…" Lupos answered in a deep, growling voice. "I feel stronger than ever…those renegades won't even know what hit them once I've ripped into their bones and circuits."

"That's good…" Toxoid nodded approvingly. "Finish this mission, and you shall be a beacon for the whole Biomechanoid unit. I promise."

"We can dispense with personal ambitions at a later time…" A voice suddenly called out. "For now, we must focus on our tasks."

The two turned to see Decimus walking onto the scene.

"What are YOU doing here, metalhead?" Toxoid growled, having a bit of hostility towards the Robotic unit. "I never gave you permission to come aboard!"

"I am here by order of the High Commander…" Decimus explained, coolly. "I have a special mission to accomplish for him."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Toxoid cocked an eyebrow under his dome.

"That is classified, for the time being." Decimus answered as he turned and walked off.

Toxoid shook his head and turned to Lupos. "These robots would be nowhere without us to help them, Lupos…Without a firm, feeling heart to go with the metal, you're no better than a Skab…remember that."

"Yes, sir…" Lupos nodded as he followed his master out of the storage room…

* * *

The tall, almost pyramid-like skyscrapers of Guyvus City jutted far up into the air, gleaming with silver paint, as cruiser traffic streamed briskly along the city skies. The Zins, the main inhabitants of the city, were a tall, gangly, and thin, red-skinned race, many of which had sensitive eyesight in the light, and thus had to wear special visors over their small eyes.

But the hustle and bustle of the Cityscape was not the destination the Aphelion, or Rivet's Freighter, called The Mother Loader, was heading towards. They slowly looked around and landed out of sight, on the top of an abandoned office building. It still looked fairly clean, as it had just recently been vacated, as Ratchet stepped out with Clank and looked around.

"Wow…" Ratchet pulled out an info-keeping device, and typed in a few things. "To think all of this was waiting for us out in this sector."

"What are you doing?" Rivet enquired as she walked up behind him.

"Oh…" Ratchet smiled as he put his device away. "Just taking notes…Clank and I came out here to explore anyway…to chart this place out for the rest of the universe."

"I see…" Rivet nodded a little. "And what do you think the rest of the universe will do with your information?"

"Well…" Ratchet thought it over. "I guess I could make some star maps, and sell them to other people who want to visit…once we've taken care of Neross and the others, of course."

"Hmm…" Rivet's expression changed as she thought about this. "I don't know if that's such a good idea…"

"Why?" Ratchet tilted his head a little.

"Rivet has reason for concern…" Rusty commented as he walked up next to her. "Many of the worlds in this sector haven't had much contact with people from the outside. The Zins have had some experience with visitors from other planets, but they're one of the few exceptions. In other worlds Rivet and I have visited, the locals have been very suspicious, sometimes hostile, towards outsiders."

"They make a good point, Ratchet…" Clank added as he walked up near Ratchet. "We both certainly know all about hostile receptions on foreign planets. It'd be hard to imagine the impact our star maps would have on a system that has had very little contact outside of itself…"

"I guess so…" Ratchet thought hard about this as he scratched the back of his head. "I just wish we could bring SOMETHING back from our trip to this system…"

"How about a story…" A voice called out from behind the Mother Loader. "The story of how a few determined individuals, and one talented robot, threw off the shackles of an oppressive empire?"

The group turned to see a tall, lanky Zin, dressed in a leather vest and jeans, with another Zin wearing a visor behind him, similarly dressed.

"The feel good story of the year!" The visor-clad Zin grinned as he held out his long arms.

"Hey guys!" Rivet grinned as she ran over to the two Zins. "Ratchet, Clank, this is Dio…" She looked to the first Zin as she said this, then to the visored one. "And this is Spurg."

"My goodness…another robot…" Dio beamed as he walked over to Clank. "I hope you're as talented as Rusty."

"Are you kidding?" Ratchet smiled as he looked to his partner. "Clank has helped me out more times than I can count."

"Well, I can certainly count…" Clank thought out loud. "I estimate approximately-"

"Clank!" Ratchet laughed a bit. "I didn't need you to calculate that for me."

"Sorry." Clank responded.

"Well, it's great to meet you both." Spurg smiled as he shook Ratchet's hand, then Clank's, adjusting his visor a little. "After all this time, we thought Rivet was the only Lombax left in this universe. It's a pleasant surprise to see that we were wrong."

Ratchet nodded, as Rivet interjected once more. "Well, we can all talk about our new friends' life stories later. What have you got for us from Intel?" She grinned a bit in anticipation.

Spurg nodded to Dio, as he pulled out a small device in his pocket, the screen displaying all sorts of information as he scrolled through it with his spindly fingers.

"Well, there hasn't been much action in Zinjan airspace as of yesterday." Dio spoke as he scrolled some more, furrowing his brow. "Buuuut…I heard some whispers of a Korthos cruiser coming by for some reason…plus, I've heard Neross is up to some strange things on Habilis."

"Habilis?" Rivet rubbed the back of her head a little. "That weirdo cult planet? What would Neross want with that place?"

"You've got me…" Spurg shrugged. "Maybe he found some weapon making material on the surface?"

"What's Habilis?" Ratchet furrowed his brow some more.

"Oh, excuse me…" Dio addressed the newcomers. "Habilis is a planet on the other side of this sector. It's isolated…some kind of religious cult lives there, and they don't allow outsiders on the surface."

"Which makes it even stranger that Neross is there." Spurg added. "I don't know how he convinced the Habilites to allow him on the surface."

"Maybe we can find out more when we get down to HQ…" Dio walked ahead of the group as he headed for the door to the stairway from the roof.

"Dio!" Rivet yelled as he opened the door.

Dio looked inside to find another Zin, also wearing a visor, along with a blue and gold trimmed uniform, pointing a pistol at his head.

"Don't move!" The Zin yelled.

"Syrus?" Dio held up his skinny hands and backed off. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"How about you, Dio?" Syrus gave him a stern look under his visor. "What the hell are you and your brother doing out here with these people? Why are you helping Neross' enemies?"

"Syrus, calm down!" Spurg shouted as he put his hand out, very concerned for his brother now.

"Calm?" Syrus widened his small eyes, and shook his head as he held his pistol up, kicking the door closed behind him. "You're forcing me to go back to my superiors at the Chancellor's office, to tell them we have two rogues breaking our planet's neutrality act, and you're telling me to stay calm?"

Dio narrowed his eyes. He didn't know how Syrus found out about their actions, but he'd heard him talk plenty of times before about the importance of not interfering with Korthos, and he was frankly sick of it now.

"Do you really think Neross is gonna respect our neutrality? Look what he did to Hared III!"

"Don't try to make me the bad guy here, Dio!" Syrus kept his pistol pointed at his head. "I, and the other assistants to Madam Chancellor are trying to keep this city and its people safe! While you and your brother are bringing war, whether you know it or not! Now everyone group together in the middle!"

Spurg nodded to the others, not wanting to see his brother shot down, as Ratchet, Clank, Rivet, and Rusty all grouped together behind him.

Syrus slowly moved Dio towards the group, and slowly pulled a communicator out from his shirt pocket, getting ready to contact his office.

Before he could do it, though, something big suddenly pushed the same door back open…it was Lupos.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ratchet's eyes went wide as he looked behind Syrus.

"Oh, please…" Syrus kept his gun trained on the group. "I didn't become one of the Chancellor's personal guard by falling for old, stupid tricks like that one."

Lupos walked up slowly behind Syrus, as his heavy breathing finally got the Zin's attention. He turned slowly with one hand on his gun now, as he looked up to see the large wolf-like biomachanoid behind him.

Before he could even turn his pistol to face him, the creature swung at him with his large left paw, smacking the Zin and sending him flying to the edge of the building.

"Syrus!" Spurg shouted, as Rusty sprang into action, running and leaping with great speed as he landed on the edge and grabbed the half-conscious Syrus by the wrist, keeping him from falling over the edge.

Ratchet immediately whipped out his constructo shotgun, as Clank jumped onto his back once more, firing at Lupos as the shots hit him in the chest a few times. This only angered the creature, as he ran towards Ratchet, who quickly jumped away.

Rivet jumped onto the beast's back as she smacked it on the head with her wrench a few times, trying to find any vital circuits or screws, as Lupos reached back and grabbed her, throwing her out in front of him as she landed hard on her back and slid along the concrete, grunting.

Rusty pulled the now unconscious Syrus up onto the roof, as he ran over to check on Rivet, While Ratchet tried to distract Lupos with a few well-placed Constructo Bombs. One of the bombs smacked him in the back, the explosion singing off some of his fur, as he turned and growled to the Lombax and his robot partner.

"Are you all right?" Rusty asked Rivet as he helped her back up to a sitting position.

"Yeah…" Rivet nodded as she shook off the cobwebs, getting back on her feet as she checked a few scrapes on her arms. "I've survived worse than this."

Rusty then nodded, and ran over to Lupos, Grabbing the large Biomechanoid from behind as he yelled to Ratchet. "You and Rivet must get the others to safety! I will handle this creature!"

Ratchet nodded as he and Rivet gathered Dio and Spurg, both of whom picked up Syrus by the arms as they carried him quickly to the stairway.

Lupos growled and turned to slash at Rusty with a paw, as Rusty quickly ducked and kicked him away with his right foot. Before standing up straight with both of his arms at the ready.

"Combat form." Rusty called out once again, as the waves of electricity ran through his body.

Lupos simply stood and watched, wanting to get a good look at the legendary renegade machine he had heard so much about, wanting to savor the moment.

Rusty's form surged with energy as his Lombax form once again faded to reveal his red and blue robotic body, his processor spinning at full power, as he grasped each wrist for a moment, charging up for battle once more.

As this was happening, Ratchet and Rivet led the others down into the inside of the empty building.

"Where to?" Ratchet asked Rivet as he led the way, his own wrench out now.

"There's an elevator a few clicks from here." Rivet answered as she checked things behind the three Zins. "All we have to do is have Dio enter the code to get us into it, and it'll take us down to their base."

Ratchet nodded and walked ahead towards another hallway, before a Skab suddenly burst through a closed door nearby, and grabbed the Lombax.

"Ratchet!" Rivet shouted, as the Skab had him from behind, before Clank suddenly zapped the robot with an electrical discharge from his head. The Skab stumbled backwards as Ratchet then turned and grunted, smashing his wrench into the side of its head as sparks and chips flew.

"That's another one I owe you for, Buddy." Ratchet smiled a bit as he looked back towards Clank, as the Skab fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Behind you, Ratchet!" Clank spoke, as Ratchet turned to see a small group of Skabs facing him in the hallway ahead, with Toxoid standing behind them.

"Attack!" Toxoid commanded the robots, with little care for their well-being. "I want to see how good these new renegades are."

The Skabs mindlessly obeyed, as they ran towards the group. Ratchet immediately took action, and pulled out his doom blade shooter, sending blades spinning and cutting away at the closest skabs, and slashing them to pieces, as Rivet backed him up from behind, firing her Zin pistol at the Skabs, as each shot hit them in the chest, making them fall back, and leaving them wide open to the blades.

In a matter of seconds, the Skabs were all reduced to a pile of parts and circuits.

"I guess the metalheads need to make some modifications…" Toxoid shook his head as he walked towards the group, stepping on the broken Skabs with his heavy feet. "Want to try those little toys on me?"

"Ratchet, don't!" Rivet called out, but Ratchet was still in full battle mode. He fired off some more blades, as Toxoid extracted long, sharp claws from inside his hollow-looking fingers, slicing them all apart easily.

Ratchet then grabbed his wrench, and jumped towards the larger creature, only to be grabbed around the neck.

"Let him go!" Rivet shouted as she ran out with her pistol still drawn.

"If you want to kill him yourself…" Toxoid grinned as he held Ratchet out by the neck, keeping his other hand around Clank, to keep him from leaping off of his partner's back. "Then by all means…"

Rivet held up her gun, shaking as she thought about what she could do. Ratchet choked as he managed to create a constructo bomb on his glove…

"Catch!" He managed to bellow from Toxoid's grasp, as he dropped the bomb towards Rivet. The female quickly ran over before it could go off, and tossed it at Toxoid before he could react, sliding on the smooth floor past him.

The bomb went off right in his face, the explosion smashing his dome as he cried out in pain, dropping Ratchet and Clank before the blast could hurt them, and falling to his knee.

Rivet made sure Ratchet OK, as Toxoid coughed and rubbed at his exposed face, knowing exposure to the oxygen of a planet for a long time wasn't good for him. He quickly got up and ran back towards his ship, which was parked on the ground level of the building.

"Get them to the elevator!" Rivet told Ratchet as she helped him back to his feet. "Now that we've beaten Toxoid, I'll go see if Rusty needs any help."

"Got you!" Ratchet nodded as he went back to helping Dio, Spurg, and Syrus through the hallway.

Meanwhile, Rusty was still fighting Lupos, ducking and weaving as the creature swung at him with his metal claws. He jumped up and smacked Lupos across the face with his right fist, before kicking at him with his left leg.

Lupos wasn't too affected by the punch, though, as he caught Rusty by the leg, and spun him, before slashing him across the chest with his right claws, making sparks fly from the android's armor.

Rusty grunted a bit from this, and then grabbed Lupos by his left arm, trying to find a way to disable his fighting power. Lupos grabbed him with his right paw before he could find anything, and then tossed him across the roof. Rusty smashed through an empty water tower as he flew, and fell onto his stomach a few feet back from it.

Lupos then leapt into the air, and pounced onto the android from behind, grabbing him by the arms as he put his right foot on his back. Rusty felt tremendous pressure on his arms now, as Lupos began to pull on them from behind, trying to tear his limbs off.

Rusty didn't panic, though, as he concentrated on his processor, thankful for the latest upgrades to his system Rivet gave him before they left. He focused deeply, as his processor spun and spun, before kicking up even more energy than it had in previous times.

This made his right hand glow and burn intensely with plasma…so much so, that it began to burn right through Lupos' right paw, almost making catch fire. Lupos howled in pain as he then let go of Rusty's arms, cradling the burning hand for a moment.

Rusty was then able to jump back onto his feet, the increased output coursing through his whole body now. He grabbed Lupos by his damaged wrist with his left hand, and began to pummel his jaw with his right fist repeatedly, making him yelp in pain as he dented the metal-lined jaw, and smashed out many of his steel teeth.

He then jumped up and kicked Lupos hard in the chest, making him fly a few feet back as the android then landed on his feet and fully powered his right hand, making it glow brilliantly with plasma.

He ran towards the creature, and smashed him in the stomach with his powered fist, making him howl in pain. He then karate-chopped him on his right arm, lopping it off at the elbow, before delivering two more karate-chops along the chest, and kicking him over the edge of the building.

Lupos howled out once more as he fell, burning with the plasma energy delivered to him, before exploding in midair, pieces of his former self scattering to the ground below.

"Rusty!" Rivet arrived just as the explosion happened, a relieved look coming through her face as she saw that the one who exploded wasn't her guardian.

"Rivet!" Rusty spoke in his distorted voice as he walked over to her. "Where are the others?"

"On their way to HQ." Rivet smiled. "I wanted to make sure you could make it there too."

Rusty nodded, and began to follow her.

"Not so fast…" another familiar voice called out.

Rivet turned, her eyes awash in fear, as she saw Decimus now standing behind the two.

"Oh no…" Rivet spoke softly.

"I can see that Toxoid's half-breeds are still not capable of bringing you two down…" Decimus walked with his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword, facing Rusty as his cape blew slightly in the wind.

"Let us Duel…" He addressed his opponent. "I want to know whether or not you're finally at my level."

"Rusty, don't!" Rivet grabbed the android by his arm.

Rusty gently nudged her aside. "Rivet…if I am to improve as your guardian quickly, I must expose myself to more skilled opponents…you know that."

Rivet just sighed, and nodded, as she let Rusty do as he wished.

Decimus faced down his android rival the whole time, moving slowly and deliberately as he stood, and partially unsheathed his long sword, ready for Rusty to make his move.

Rusty kept his gaze equally focused on the other robot, and walked slowly as Decimus began to sidestep, each warrior keeping up and making his footsteps move in time with the other.

The two stood across from each other for a few more moments, as the wind passed through them…

Decimus made his move, and charged towards Rusty, his right hand still on his hilt, as Rusty soon followed suit, extending his right arm and setting it aglow with plasma, as the two finally met each other in the middle, Decimus finally withdrawing his sword.

They both slashed at each other at the same moment, and paused as they passed a few feet from each other.

It had looked like they had both missed…before Rusty grunted and fell onto the ground, his right shoulder sparking as a chunk of his armor from that spot fell away. Decimus simply stood with his back to his opponent, his long sword extending to the side from his hand.

"No!" Rivet ran to her fallen comrade's side, helping him sit up.

Decimus slowly turned and sheathed his sword once more. He walked to where the piece of Rusty's armor had fallen, and slowly picked it up.

"I can see you still have some growing to do, prototype." Decimus spoke as he put the piece of armor in one of his pockets. "We will meet again, once you are more of a challenge for me…"

Rivet glowered at Decimus as he walked off the edge of the building, and dropped down towards Toxoid's passing ship, which picked him up before leaving.

"Easy…easy…" She helped Rusty onto his feet, as his armor now began to smoke a bit from the inside.

"Hmm…" Rusty examined himself, as the smoke leaked out from under his armor. "Your injector upgrades worked well…but I think you now need to upgrade my internal cooling systems a bit."

"You got it…" Rivet smiled a bit, just glad her partner wasn't permanently put out of commission. "Let's catch up with the others first…"

Rusty nodded slightly, as he walked, his arm still over Rivet's shoulders.

* * *

Neross stood in front of his desk, waiting expectantly for Decimus. Time had passed since the mission on Zinjan, as Decimus walked confidently through the entrance, and bowed politely to his master.

"Did you get it…" Neross questioned his creation, with crossed arms.

"I did indeed, sir…" Decimus reached into his pocket, and pulled out the piece of armor he had cut from Rusty, handing it to Neross.

"Excellent…excellent…" Neross nodded as he looked over the piece of shoulder. "I should be able to get a signature of replication from this…where are he, and the others now?"

"Still on Zinjan, sir…" Decimus answered. "With those three Zins we encountered during the mission.

Neross nodded again. "Keep an eye on them…don't make any moves until I say so."

"It will be done, sir…" Decimus bowed once more, before leaving the room.

Neross silently walked, the armor piece in his hand, towards one corner of the room. He put his had on what appeared to be a tube, made of black glass.

"Floria…my love…" He closed his eyes as he grasped the piece now. "It's nearly complete…It's almost done…Ohhhh, how I wish you could be here to witness this…"

Nothing could be seen but a shadow inside the tube, as he caressed the glass lovingly.

"It's beautiful, love…" He smiled as a single tear collected in one of his eyes. "He…is beautiful…"


	4. Encounter at Habilis

Syrus woke up slowly, rubbing his head, shaking off the cobwebs as he sat up.

He saw a dark room around him, dimly lit with a few plasma torches, Dio and Spurg tapping away on two computers in one corner, as he then saw Rivet repairing Rusty in another, patching up the part of his shoulder that Decimus had sliced off.

"Hey, you're awake." Ratchet smiled as he walked in front of the Zin. "How are you doing?"

Syrus found himself sitting on a cot, as he looked up to the Lombax. "Shaky…but I'll live…" he slowly stood up with a half smile, steadying himself as he looked around the room.

"It appears that this is the Headquarters for the brothers…" Clank spoke, answering the question Syrus was about to ask, as the Zin nodded and walked over to the working siblings.

"This place?" Syrus cocked his eyebrow a little. "You two have been operating out of this…basement?"

"Nice, spacious, and most important, inconspicuous." Dio put up one of his fingers for a second, his back turned to Syrus.

"This is actually our second basement this month…" Spurg added as he typed away. "We have to stay on the move, being underground and all…"

Syrus nodded slowly. "Well, it's my duty to turn you guys in…" He then thought about the attack that had knocked him out. "But seeing as how you guys brought me down here, when you could have left me to be killed by that…thing out there, I guess I'll give you a pass…"

"We've known each other since we were kids, Syrus…" Dio smiled as he worked. "We couldn't watch you get killed out there…even if you are a bit of a zogwarg's behind sometimes…"

"Thanks…" Syrus smirked a little. "I think…"

The trio chuckled a bit, as Ratchet walked over to Rivet, who was finishing her work on Rusty.

"How's he holding up?" He enquired.

"Oh, he'll be fine…" Rivet smiled as she stood, helping Rusty to his feet again. "I'm just miffed that we can't seem to be much of a match for Decimus…"

"Decimus?" Ratchet tilted his head.

"Yeah…" Rivet nodded. "Head of the Korthos Robotic unit, and probably Neross' best fighter."

"That name again, Korthos…" Ratchet grinned a little, thinking of the God the organization was named for. "I guess he must have been famous when the Lombaxes were around…he even has his own sector of the galaxy named after him…"

"Really?" Rivet giggled a bit as Rusty changed back to his Lombax form. "What's it like?"

"You don't wanna know…" Ratchet grinned as he shook his head, thinking of the Agorians and the Battleplex. "But I had some wild times in that place."

Rivet nodded as she looked to Rusty. "How are you doing?"

"Improving, I assure you…" He placed his hand on her shoulder. "One day I shall calculate a way in which I can defeat Decimus…I am sure of this."

"And I'll be right here to help you find that way." Rivet smiled as she returned the gesture.

"Fascinating…" Clank spoke as he took Ratchet aside. "They really do seem to share a deep, personal bond. The kind of bond between machine and organic I have only ever seen between us…"

Ratchet nodded slowly. "I wonder how keen they'd be on travelling, after we've taken care of this?" He wondered to himself.

"Here we go…" Spurg spoke out loud, suddenly. "All the info from our man in interstellar spacelines on the ships leaving Habilis."

Syrus took an especially good look at this, as the group gathered to look at Spurg's info on the screen, while Dio punched up some video of a ship leaving the orbit of Habilis as discretely as it could.

"Wait a minute…" Syrus' eyes suddenly went wide as he pointed to the screen. "Pull back and freeze the image…right there!"

Dio nodded quickly as he complied…Syrus took a long look at the image on the screen.

"That's the Chancellor's emblem on that ship…" he stated, shaking his head. "You can't fly those freighters without special permission, and I know they've never been allowed in Habilis' airspace…"

He stepped back and rubbed his head. "What the hell is a restricted freighter doing there?"

"Our guess…" Dio answered. "Neross might have bullied your guys into giving them these ships…some kind of cover for the materials they're transporting."

"But what?" Rivet looked closer now. "What could Neross possibly want with such a reclusive, primitive planet like Habilis?"

Syrus rubbed his lip a little in thought. "I heard from a mercenary I talked to around here once…that there's supposed to be a huge deposit of Raritanium on that planet…"

"Raritanium?" Ratchet's eyes went wide.

"Ye gods…" Spurg froze in mid-type. "Can you imagine what Korthos could do with stuff like that? They'd be invincible."

"Then our mission is clear…" Rusty stepped forward. "We must travel to Habilis, and stop Korthos from extracting any more of this Raritanium…"

"But how?" Clank enquired. "You have said, often, that the inhabitants of this planet do not take well to visitors…"

"I know some guys…" Syrus spoke up. "The fly in with these anthropologists to study the Habilites from a distance…they say the trick is to fly into the uninhabited sections of the planet, and land VERY discretely…I think I can get you guys some special mufflers for your engines, to make sure you don't attract any attention…"

"Syrus…" Dio looked up. "Thank you…"

"It's the least I can do…" Syrus smiled, looking to Ratchet, Clank, Rivet, and Rusty. "Once you guys leave Zinjan, I think I'm gonna have some private words with the Chancellor…"

* * *

Neross walked slowly across one of the narrow corridors of his base, two skabs flanking him as his personal guard, as he walked into a room where many sparks flew, and robotic arms worked for hours on end.

Decimus was checking on a few of these machines, as he then turned and bowed.

"Master…" Decimus spoke. "How may I serve you today?"

Neross got right to the point. "How did the Raritanium processing proceed?"

"Exceedingly well, sir…" Decimus spoke as he walked over to an upright enclosed tube. "I have already constructed a marvelous project for the Robotic Unit…"

He entered a code on a panel next to the tube, as the door steamed and opened up…

Neross looked on, as the figure in white armor with silver lining stepped out slowly, a black visor looking like two large black orbs making out the upper part of the robot's head.

"This is Gochak…" Decimus motioned to the robot. "Named for the Habilites' supposed god of warfare. He will not only work to further our favor with the Habilites, but he was also constructed with a large portion of Raritanium, more than a match for anything our enemies will be able to throw at us…observe…"

He looked to Gochak, and pointed to a skab that was straggling behind the other skabs. "Dispose of that one…"

The skab stopped in its tracks, and looked to the new robot, as Gochak nodded and walked over to the skab. The weaker robot put up its hands and waved them, imploring Gochak to back off.

Gochak didn't respond, though, as he then grabbed the skab by the arm, and punched it in the abdomen, sending it flying into some metal crates with a smash, its arm coming off in the robot's hand.

He then walked over to the skab, which was just sitting up now, and grabbed it by the head, twisting it slowly to the side. Metal could be heard crunching and snapping, as he then gave the head a final twist, turning it completely backwards.

Neross smiled lightly, the old Lombax nodding in approval. "Well done…" He looked over to Decimus. "Send him to Habilis as soon as you can…"

"As you wish, sir…" Decimus bowed again as Neross walked away.

* * *

Hours had passed since the time spent on Zinjan, as the Aphellion and the Mother Loader quietly made their way towards Habilis, all the time on the lookout for Korthos ships, or any other ships that might get wise to what they were doing.

Syrus had quietly slipped into a shipyard, earlier, and retrieved some engine mufflers as he had promised. They were indeed successful in keeping the ships relatively quiet.

The vast lands of Habilis were heavily forested, and hot with a humid, blazing sun. Villages were scattered throughout the planet, and populated by the Habilites, creatures who looked almost similar to Lombaxes, only they had shorter ears, and black fur, like panthers.

In the center of the planet was Olduvai, the original village, and the unofficial capital of the planet. It was marked by a single, impressive stone structure, the stone heads of each of the Habilite gods, stacked atop one another as a single pillar.

The sight of this pillar was ever present in the sight of both ships, as they carefully made their way into the middle of one forest, and landed slowly, making sure no locals were in view.

Ratchet hopped from his cockpit once more, with Clank in tow, as he met up with Rivet and Rusty on the ground nearby.

"I don't think we were spotted…' Rivet smiled as she looked around.

"We still must be cautious…" Rusty walked out in front of the group. "I do not intend to assume combat form unless absolutely necessary, and I must ask that you keep your weapons packed away…these are most likely a fearful, and superstitious people, and we must do nothing to make them fear us."

"I do not fear you…" a voice suddenly called out from above.

Everyone's head quickly shot up, looking to the form of a slender, female Habilite, appearing to be in her teens, sliding down from the tree where she had been spying on the newcomers. She was dressed in a tan cloth skirt, which went down to her knees, as well as a top made of the same material. The clothing was adorned in red and green symbols along the edges, as she also wore a carved necklace.

"So much for the mufflers…" Clank shook his head slowly, posed on Ratchet's back.

"Who said that?" The Habilite looked around, as Ratchet motioned for his partner to keep quiet, not sure how this female would react to the sight of a robot.

Rusty walked over slowly with Rivet behind him. "What are you doing outside of your village?" He looked over to the village closest to their landing site.

"Oh, that's not my home…" The female giggled a bit. "I live all the way over in Olduvai."

"Olduvai?" Rivet cocked her eyebrow a bit. "Why are you so far away from there?"

"Because I've learned things…" The Habilite walked slowly along the clearing. "Things that made me curious about the world around me…I've seen the other visitors here quite a lot, because of who I am…"

Ratchet scratched his head a little upon hearing this. "And who are you?"

The Habilite turned towards him with a smile. "I am Qunya, eldest daughter of the High Chief of Olduvai…" She politely made a small bow of welcome.

"How strangely fortunate…" Rusty smiled a little to Rivet. "Here we are, looking for answers as to what is transpiring on this planet, and we meet someone who may be able to give us those answers."

Rivet nodded and looked back over to Qunya. "Do you know of anyone named Neross?"

"Indeed I do…" Qunya nodded. "He claims he was sent by our Gods to speak for us outside of Habilis…but I have my doubts…come with me."

She smiled and motioned towards an open path from the clearing, as the others soon followed her.

She then turned and looked to Ratchet. "You can let your shiny friend on your back down now. I have seen too many larger versions of his kind to be scared of him." She giggled a bit.

Ratchet nodded with a blush as he let down Clank, who then walked up next to her as she led the group on.

"You said you had your doubts about Neross…" The small robot enquired. "Why might that be?"

"The others wouldn't know it…" She spoke as she swatted away some large bugs that buzzed around her. "But I listened in on the talks he had with my father…the words he said…they sound almost word for word like they were lifted from a copy of the sacred texts, which only the family of the Chief are allowed to view…"

"So, you believe Neross stole a copy of these texts?" Clank asked.

"There has been talk of a missing copy…" Qunya nodded. "But my father is trying to keep it quiet…I think he really knows Neross is lying, but Neross has too much support from the people…he feels powerless to block him from our world…" She looked down, sadly. "He's afraid of what Neross might do to him, and my people…as am I…"

Ratchet then walked closer as he spoke up. "So, how do you want us to help you?"

Qunya waved her finger in the air a bit. "Well, I thought we could start by heading to my home in Olduvai…from there we can-"

"That's far enough, child!" A voice growled out, as the form of a taller male Habilite leapt from the bushes, clad only in pants and tattoos on his furred chest, as he pointed a spear at the group behind Qunya.

Rusty moved in front of Rivet, protecting her as other male Habilites came out from hidden spots in the forest.

"Ton've!" Qunya jumped a bit, before running up to the lead male, calling his name. "Ton've, stop this right now!"

"No weapons!" Rusty quickly reminded his friends as they stood still.

"I'm sorry, child…" Ton've gave her a stern look. "But I am under orders from your father to keep a sharp eye on you…and now that you have lead us to the enemies of he whom our gods have chosen, I must ask that you help turn them in with us, and show your loyalty…"

Qunya sighed and reached behind herself, pulling some berries from a pocket on her back, and squishing them a bit.

"I shall swear my loyalty to that outsider…when he can catch me!"

As she spoke the last part, she threw the berry juice into Ton've's eyes, making him grunt and yell a bit as she slipped past him, and quickly ran off into the forest, vanishing.

"Take these intruders to Olduvai!" He growled as he looked into the forest. "I will find this foolish girl, and bring her back to where she belongs."

He ran off after the girl, as the other males poked the group with their spears. Rusty made sure nobody was fighting back, as he put his arms up, and went willingly with his captors…

* * *

Time had passed, as there was some activity occurring in a gorge on the outskirts of Olduvai. The figure of the High Chief, Anduriu, stood on the edge, overlooking the work that was going on, dressed in a slender, silver chest plate, silver gauntlets, and painted silver boots over the bottom of his pants, two swords sheathed diagonally on his back. His forehead bore the red, painted band that identified his chief hood.

Skabs were hard at work below him in the gorge, bringing up raw chunks of raritanium to be stored on the freighter parked nearby, as the form of Neross walked slowly up to the chief.

"Good morning, chief…" Neross spoke in a warm, friendly voice now, smiling confidently as he stood next to Anduriu.

"Good morning…" Anduriu simply nodded, in a somewhat less friendly manner. He didn't say it out loud, but it was uncomfortable for him to simply be near this Lombax.

"Everything is proceeding as scheduled." He said to Neross.

"Excellent…" Neross grinned and nodded. "It shall please your people greatly to know that you are working hard for me…"

Anduriu nodded gently. "I'm sure it will please them even more so, when you couple this good news with more exotic fruits, and shiny objects to tantalize them with…"

"Be careful now, chief…" Neross patted Anduriu on the back, gently. "One might construe that remark as nasty sarcasm, and, well…" He leaned in closer with a grin. "You do know how the people love to gossip…"

Anduriu just breathed in slowly through his nose, and out, before nodding, his arms crossed behind him, as he kept a calm, but slightly unhappy look on his face.

Someone could be heard running in behind him now, as he and Neross turned to see a Habilite warrior come and kneel before his chief.

"Sir!" He spoke. "Ton've's men have returned with outsiders they have taken captive…one of them is very shiny!"

Neross' eyes went wide upon hearing this, thinking of Rusty, obviously. He then patted Anduriu on the shoulder and grinned.

"Well now…" The Lombax spoke with his sick smile. "It seems the gods smile on me even more, today…"

Anduiru stared at Neross blankly as he walked away from the scene…


	5. Glory of The Arena

"How much longer are we gonna let them keep a hold of us like this?" Ratchet asked Rusty, impatient as the Habilites took them into Olduvai with their spears at the backs of the group.

"Until I can discover a way to free ourselves without harming or frightening these people…" Rusty simply answered.

Rivet's eyes went wide as she saw something in the distance. "You'd better think of something fast…look over there…"

Everyone soon turned to see the form of Neross walking slowly towards them, his black armor shining in the light as groups of local Habilites walked behind him, in awe of his presence.

"Daughter of Groden…" Neross approached Rivet first with a calm, serious look on his face. "It's been quite some time since I've seen your young face…it's changed quite a bit."

"Yours hasn't changed at all…" Rivet narrowed her eyes at him. "It's every bit as empty, angry, and hateful as I remember."

"I have every right to hate, child…" Neross kept his cool as he walked and observed the other prisoners; Ratchet and Clank in particular. "When you find yourself amongst the last of your kind, the hatred towards those at fault, and the need to right those wrongs is imperative…my hatred of what happened to the Lombaxes will lead to the preservation of our race…"

"You're wrong!" Ratchet spoke up. "The Lombaxes are still alive! They're out there somewhere, right now! They're-"

"The Lombaxes are DEAD!" Neross snapped at him, a fierce scowl now on his face. "It was their own foolishness, and the inaction of the galaxy that killed them…I knew it, and your father did…" He looked back to Rivet. "But your father lacked the spine to do what needed to be done…and that's why he is dead, with your mother…"

Rivet scowled at him, as he then turned to the crowd. "It was providence that saved me! The grace of your powerful gods! It was them that allowed me to survive, and bring you the gifts I have…"

He tossed some silver coins he got from Zinjan out into the crowd, as many Habilites scrambled for them.

"But these people…these traitors…they wish to stop me! They wish to block me in my quest to bring you closer to the gods!"

"They must die!" One of the male Habilites called out, as others cheered and nodded in agreement, yelling out in support as a figure of an older habilite in robes stepped out from the crowd.

"Priest!" Neross appealed to him. "Tell us your opinion…"

Neross had bought off the priest as well, so he was confident at the decision, as the priest now turned to crowd.

"The answer is clear…" he spoke in his deep voice. "An enemy of one who communes with the gods, is also an enemy of the gods themselves…they must all be punished in the arena!"

The people behind him cheered, as Ratchet jumped out towards the group, being held back by the warriors.

"No! Don't you see? He's using you! He's using your beliefs to control you!"

His voice was drowned out by all the others, though, as Neross stepped in front of him.

"A splendid idea, priest!" He called out. "You have the approval of the gods…in fact, I sense that one of them may make an appearance in your glorious arena on this day!"

"Well then…" The priest grinned. "Let's waste no time!"

The Habilites cheered once more, as the warriors poked Ratchet and the others with their spears, forcing the group to move past the crowd of yelling and spitting Habilites, slowly moving them towards a crude arena, made mostly of wood and rocks.

People were already gathering in the bleachers because of Neross' announcement, chattering excitedly amongst themselves, as the warriors, who then shut and locked a door behind them, slowly pushed Ratchet and the others into the muddy floor.

A group of Skabs then rushed in through another door to confront them, as Neross stepped up to a podium above the group, addressing the crowd.

"Loyal, faithful Habilites…my creations shall dispose of these fiends for you…behold the price of blocking the will of the gods!"

The crowd cheered once more, as the Skabs rushed in towards everyone on the arena floor. Clank managed to punch one of them, sending the robot flying as he then hopped onto Ratchet's back once more.

Ratchet withdrew his omniwrench, as Rivet followed suit with her own. They both figured simple weapons would be the least frightening to these people. They hacked away at the incoming Skabs, as Rusty wrestled with another one, still in his Lombax form.

He was still pretty strong out of Combat mode, though, as he grabbed one Skab, and slammed it headfirst into a rock wall, breaking its head into pieces. He then ran over to Rivet, and pulled off another Skab that she had been struggling with. Rivet then turned, and smashed another one in the head with her wrench.

Meanwhile, Ratchet was keeping the other Skabs at bay with his own wrench. He spun as one of them lunged for him, and swung down, smacking the robot in the legs as it fell down. He then came up and smashed another one in the chest twice with the wrench, before tripping it, and smashing it in the head from behind as it fell face first into the mud.

Neross stood and watched above the action and the roaring crowd, unfazed that his Skabs weren't doing too well. This was all a warm-up, anyway, for him, as he discreetly reached to his left wrist, and pressed a button on his armor, sending a signal.

The action in the arena, and the crowd, were soon silenced, as a loud **THUMP!** Could be heard from outside one of the walls of stone.

Everyone went still, wondering what it was, as it was soon followed by another **THUMP!** And another **THUMP!**

Finally, with a loud crash, a stonewall came down in pieces, under the fist of the large, silver and white figure with black eyes that came stopping into the mud floor of the arena. He held up his arms and posed to the crowd.

"By the gods…" The priest pointed out. "Mighty Gochak has arrived!"

The crowd gasped, and kneeled before the presence of their supposed god of war, as he walked slowly to the middle of the arena.

"By permission of my fellow gods…" Gochak spoke in a gravely, vicious voice. "I have arrived to dispose of these traitors personally…" he pointed to the combatants in the arena. "And prove to you all, that your Neross is in our favor!"

The Habilites cheered once again, as the remaining Skabs stepped aside, allowing Gochak to do, as he will.

"Don't you think you should transform now?" Ratchet asked Rusty.

Rusty shook his head. "We need to wait for the right moment…I need to find some way to prove to these people that this thing is a fake."

Gochak then charged towards the group, grabbing Ratchet first. Ratchet grunted, and hacked away at the robot's head with his omniwrench, only to be tossed away as he smacked into another wall, dazed as he slid back down to the mud.

This led to Rivet jumping in towards the robot soon after, landing on his shoulders. She then, jammed her omniwrench around his neck, trying to find a bolt, or anything like that to unscrew. Instead, she was soon grabbed by Gochak, who then threw her into the mud, and punted her along the ground into another stonewall.

"Rivet!" Rusty ran over to the bruised, grunting Lombax, making sure she was OK, before standing and facing down Gochak himself.

He ran in and grabbed the robot around the middle, trying to wrestle with him, but finding that this raritanium-made giant was even tougher than he looked. Gochak soon put his fists together in an axe-handle, and thumped Rusty along the back with them.

Rusty grunted and dropped down, as Gochak then lifted him up, and threw him back down, body slamming him into the mud. Rusty grunted loudly, and got onto his hands and knees, crawling towards a wall to pull himself up on.

Gochak was ready as Rusty got up, and thumped him in the stomach with his right fist. Rusty oofed loudly at the feel of his strong fist, and soon saw the robot coming at him with his left fist. He quickly ducked, as Gochak only succeeded in punching out a sharp stone that protruded from the wall.

Rusty rolled away, and got back onto his feet, facing down Gochak, as the white robot examined himself, seeing that the rock had ripped open part of his fist. Decimus had run out of raritanium for this particular fist, and had to use other materials, which was evident now that his wires were exposed, his hand smoking a bit.

"Look at his arm!" A voice called from the crowd. "No blood!"

The crowd muttered a bit, as a cloaked figure threw back her hood, to reveal the face of Qunya.

"Priest!" She addressed the robed figure standing out from the crowd. "Is it not written that the Gods carry the divine blood? Blood as blue as the seas that spawned our lands?"

"Yes…" The priest nodded. "But how would you know of such a thing?"

"Because I am the daughter of the High Chief!" Qunya proclaimed as she threw off her cloak. "I have arrived with the esteemed warrior, Ton've, to tell you all of what I recently told him…"

The high chief, Anduriu, walked in slowly, having only recently heard this commotion as he looked out into the stands.

"Believe what she tells you…" Ton've responded as he threw off his own cloak next to her. "I could scarcely believe what she told me myself, until I confronted a guard who had been forced to keep quiet…"

He then looked to Anduriu. "Sir, one of Neross' footmen was seen stealing a copy of your sacred texts. He has been using our religion to manipulate us this whole time, so that he can plunder our resources! This Gochak is an imposter!"

"I knew it! I knew it all along! Now I have the proof I was lacking for you, the people!" Anduriu growled as the people all began to gasp and talk amongst each other angrily. Rivet was smiling now as she ran over and made sure that Ratchet and Clank were all right.

"Put him in the dungeon!" The chief pointed to the shocked Neross, as several Habilite warriors quickly advanced on him. Neross then commanded his Skabs to attack, running off as they opened fire with their lasers.

People screamed and took cover, as Ratchet soon whipped out his constructo pistol, Rivet backing him up with her Zin pistol as they shot down any Skabs trying to hurt any Habilites, allowing everyone to run away from the arena.

Rusty looked over to see a Habilite, a young boy, who had fallen down into the mud. He ran over to help him, as his mother quickly tried to grab his hand and pull him back up into the bleachers.

At the same time, though, Gochak was walking towards the same boy, mindlessly following Neross' orders to attack. He grabbed Rusty from behind, pulling as he tried to lift the boy up to his mother.

After moments and moments of struggling, Rusty felt a surge of determination rush through him…he caught the boy in his left arm, and then turned, smacking Gochak along his face with the back of his right hand.

He then quickly handed the boy up to his mother as Gochak backed off. The Habilite family ran off, as Rusty then faced down his opponent.

"Combat form!"

The energy streaks flashed through his body once more, causing his Lombax form to vanish bit by bit. Once more, his red and blue android body was fully displayed in the arena, his pistons and processor spinning away and working hard as his eyes glowed, grabbing each of his wrists for a second once again.

Ratchet, Clank, and Rivet, were all busy fighting off the Skabs in the arena, only a few people staying behind, as they watched Rusty and Gochak run towards each other to fight.

The two robots clashed hands, fingers locking over each other, as a test of strength ensued. They pushed and pushed at each other's arms as they held on tightly with their hands, their chests soon pressed against the other.

Although one of Gochak's hands lacked a raritanium cover, the other was nicely reinforced with it. This allowed him to start crunching down on Rusty's hand with it slowly, making Rusty grunt and stuggle, as Gochak then kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying along the mud for a moment.

Gochak walked over to Rusty as he got back onto his feet, and then punched him in the stomach, allowing him to then flip Rusty over onto his rump, as he then put one hand on the top of his head, and the other on his chin.

He then began to put Rusty in his dreaded head twister, as the android felt the incredible pressure on his head and robotic spine. He grabbed at Gochak's wrist, and did his best to resist, as Gochak focused all his energy on ripping off Rusty's head.

It may have been the thought of Rivet without a protector, or the need to defend these poor, exploited natives, but Rusty was able to focus even more than before, as he felt the energy raging through his processor, slowly pushing on Gochak's wrists…

Little by little, he was able to push away the robot's arms, and then with a tremendous burst of power, throw him over his shoulders.

Gochak sailed down into the mud and sat up, too dazed to realize what just happened. Still fiery with his strength, Rusty ran over and chopped the cover over his right shoulder, knocking it off as he grabbed the wrist, put his knee on the elbow.

Gochak growled in pain as metal crunched and sparks flew. Rusty had nearly broken the arm in half, as he then knocked off his left shoulder cover, and repeated the action on his left arm, snapping through it with his knee as more sparks flew.

Rusty then ran over to Gochak's head as the robot tried to get back up, and grabbed it with his strong hands. He gave the imposter god a taste of his own medicine, as he twisted the head off to the side unnaturally, and kicked him back down, backing off.

Gochak was able to get back up, though, as doors opened on his chest, revealing plasma cannons. He fired off a blast from both as his head was still twisted to the side, while Rusty rolled out of the way.

Gochak let out another blast as Rusty jumped over it, and tackled the robot, rolling with him for a moment as he came off from on top of him.

He watched Gochak struggle to his feet once again, as his eyes glowed once more, and the plasma gathered on his right hand once more. Its blue glue illuminated much of the arena as he ran towards Gochak.

Gochak fired at him in vain a few more times, missing as Rusty leapt into the air, and came down with his diagonal karate chop, slicing right through Gochak's body. Gochak spun and yelled out in pain as the energy coursed through him, before collapsing into the mud as much of his body exploded.

Rusty felt his armor smoking once again, as walked towards the remains of Gochak while Ratchet and Rivet gathered behind him. He then reached down and picked up the head of the robot, and walked towards the entrance to the arena.

Habilites everywhere were gathered to see what was going on in the arena, as they looked up to see Rusty's true form walking out of the doorway. Many were in awe of this metallic creature, and the friends that had just protected him and the locals.

Rusty then slowly held up the head of the imposter. "Behold…those who thought they could take advantage of your faith are no more!" he spoke in his electronic sounding voice. "And as long as I live, I will see to it that those people will never set foot on your world again."

Everyone was too stunned to know how to react, before a single cheer was heard from within the crowd…it was the mother whose child Rusty had saved. This soon led to the other Habilites following suit, cheering on as both Ratchet and Rivet smiled and took a deep breath.

They were now finally welcome on this closed planet.

* * *

"Damn it all!" Neross rubbed his brow as he walked back into his office. "I should have known that stupid prototype would find another way to foil my plans!"

"I apologize sir…" Decimus bowed as he walked in after him, with Toxoid walking in behind him as well. "It was wrong of me to begin construction on Gochak so early. If I'd had all the raritanium he needed-"

"Excuses, excuses!" Toxoid bellowed. "That seems to be all you metalheads are good for!" He then looked to Neross. "Sir! I believe I have someone in my unit who can finally take care of these wretched renegades! Give me your word, and I swear I will make them all suffer like never before! I will finish what these incompetent droids could not!"

"Enough of this…" Neross turned to them both. Decimus stayed silent, not wanting to lower himself into a shouting match with Toxoid.

"Bring me this individual you speak of for me to see…" Neross spoke to Toxoid. "You, Decimus, stay here…"

Toxoid walked off and bowed, as Decimus turned to Neross once more.

"My deepest apologies sir…" Decimus bowed again.

"It's all in the past now…" Neross spoke as he walked to the same tube he had in his office. "How are your studies on the piece you cut from Rusty proceeding?"

"Very well, sir…" Decimus responded. "I believe in a short time, we can decipher the process that allows him to transform."

"That's good…" Neross nodded. "Keep your focus on that for the time being, while Toxoid keeps our enemies distracted.

"Yes sir…" Decimus bowed and walked away, allowing Neross to stroke the glass in the tube once more, looking down at what looked like a black android inside…


	6. Old Friends and New Faces

Rusty was back in his Lombax form, as he jumped and dodged staff swipes from Ton've. He had his own staff as he clashed and ducked with the male habilite on a platform, with other Habilites watching closely.

Ton've spun his staff and grunted as he lunged towards Rusty. Rusty was able to catch Ton've with one end, and throw him off with it, before kneeling and spinning down at Ton've's knees.

Ton've tripped and prepared to fall hard, before Rusty caught him by the hand with a smile, pulling him back up before his back made impact with the floor.

"Very good…" Ton've nodded with a big smile. "You're quite a fast learner, Mr. Rusty."

"Thank you…" Rusty bowed his head a bit, politely. "These lessons should be quite useful in a future fight with Neross…"

Ton've smiled again, as Rusty put his right hand to Ton've's left as they stood apart from each other, fingers locking in a Habilite gesture of gratitude.

As this was going on, Clank was standing around near Ratchet and Rivet, allowing curious Habilite children to examine him.

"Do not be afraid…" He reassured them. "I mean you no harm."

One little boy gripped his little antenna from behind, causing him to squirm.

"Oh…please….please, don't grab that…" he chuckled as he gently took the boy's hand off.

A little girl looked up at Rusty at the platform, and back at Clank. "Isn't that guy a Shiny too?"

"Why yes, he is…" Clank nodded.

"Then why does he look like those two?" She pointed to Ratchet and Rivet.

"Well, that's because he wants to…" Clank answered. "I think it makes him feel like he fits in."

"But, he shouldn't have to fit in…" The girl spoke, clutching a little wooden toy. "I like him as a shiny."

"You'll get to see him like that again." Clank laughed a little. "We're not going to go away forever…"

"Promise?" The girl asked him.

"I guarantee it…" Clank nodded slowly. The girl was then led away by her mother, as Ratchet walked up to him.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Clank…" The Lombax told him. "We don't know when we're coming back…if ever. This an isolated planet, remember?"

"That's why I promised her…" Clank responded.

"I don't understand…" Ratchet furrowed his brow.

"No one can live in isolation forever, Ratchet…" Clank spoke as he walked with him. "The best way these people can discover the universe is completely on their own. They will need much curiosity…the curiosity that only a child can possess. I have given one child a taste of the outside, and it is my hope that in the future, she, and her friends, will want more…"

"I see…" Ratchet nodded as he walked back to Rivet. "About ready to take off?"

"Engines primed on your ship and mine…" Rivet smiled as she put away her omniwrench. "And Rusty's running as good as ever."

"Good to hear…" Ratchet nodded. "So where to next?"

"Back to Guyvus City." Rivet spoke as she packed up some more things. "We're gonna get some rest, fuel, supplies, and look for a way to get into Neross' base. Now that we've cut off his raritanium supply, and destroyed a couple more of his creations, he might be wide open to an attack."

"Where's his base?" Ratchet followed her with Clank to their ships.

"The planet Sapius." She quickly responded. "The same place where he and my father worked."

Ratchet nodded again, as Chief Anduriu walked towards them, with Qunya at his side.

"I owe you all a great deal…" He spoke with a small smile. "There's no telling what Neross could have done to our world if he had been allowed to continue bullying me into compliance."

"You're not the only one to have that worry…" Rivet told him as she thought of Zinjan. "Believe me…what matters is, your worries are gone, and we're gonna make sure every other world loses theirs."

Qunya then walked up to Ratchet, and kissed him on each cheek, as Rivet watched, amused. Ratchet's eyes went wide.

"May the grace of our gods see you through to a successful quest…" Qunya told him.

"Uhhhh…thanks." Ratchet blushed, and smiled a little.

Rusty walked back to join the group, as Qunya saw him off with the same kisses, and the same wish of good luck. The Android was quite fascinated by this, as walked back to the group.

"An interesting custom…" Rusty simply commented.

Anduriu then gave Ratchet the same gesture of interlocked hands, as the visitors from another world bid the Habilites goodbye, and took off on their ships.

"I wonder how they welcome people back…" Ratchet grinned to himself for just a second as he thought of this, leaving…

* * *

Neross walked into the lair of the Biomechanoids, in a section of Sapius that was more like its natural, swamp-like environment. He tromped through the muddy ground, as Toxoid walked up to him from the other direction.

"You honor our lair with your presence, master…" Toxoid bowed.

"So, where is this fighter you told me about?" Neross enquired.

"He's right here, master…" He motioned to the fearsome, grey-skinned creature with long claws on his hands, and a third arm on his back, posed over his head like the stinger of a scorpion, as his blood red eyes went with his long face and sharp teeth.

"This is Bankora!" Toxoid spoke proudly. "A bit of a pet project of mine…his third arm contains a corrosive liquid, very similar to my own. Watch him!"

He then commanded Bankora to attack something, as the monster turned and growled. His third arm whipped, and sent a flash of green acid to a metal wall nearby. The liquid soon broke the metal down into mush in mere seconds, as he then sliced it apart with his claws easily.

"Very nice…" Neross calmly nodded his head. "Do you think it will have the same effect on Rusty?"

"Oh yes, sir." Toxoid nodded with enthusiasm. "In fact I shall accompany him in battle to make sure it does just that!"

"Good…" Neross nodded. "On your way, then."

"Sir!" Toxoid bowed once more, and walked out with Bankora, as Decimus walked towards him.

"Reproduction process has begun, sir…" Decimus reported to Neross.

"Excellent…" Neross smiled as he walked off with the Robotic leader. "While Toxoid and his new partner keep our enemies occupied, we shall be free to set my newest experiment in motion…see how much you can speed the process up without risking damage to the cell structure."

"Right away sir." Decimus nodded respectfully as he turned and left.

* * *

The modern world of Guyvus City on Zinjan was a welcome sight for Ratchet and Clank, as they once more followed Rivet and Rusty's Mother Loader to a popular port on the far side of town.

"The Plaster Palace?", Ratchet quirked an eyebrow as he read the sign. "What are we are doing in this dive?"

"Oh don't let the name fool you…" Rivet spoke through the comm. "It's actually a nice place. One of the guys there, Jayce, I've known since I was a kid. He just inherited the place from his father, and Rusty and I have always been welcome."

"OK then…I should warn you, I'm not much of a drinker though…" Ratchet responded as he found a landing pad that extended out from the port.

"We'll see…" Rivet giggled a little before cutting her connection, stepping out of the Mother Loader and stretching as Rusty walked out behind her.

Ratchet stepped out of the Aphelion, with Clank at his side, as he walked to one of the windows of the domed port, hoping to get a better look inside.

His examination was suddenly brought to a halt, as something crashed through the window in front of him.

Two male Zins, clearly inebriated, had begun pummeling each other, and the fight had now spilled out onto the docks of the port. One was mounted on the other now, pounding away with his fists.

"Hey!" Ratchet ran over and grabbed the Zin from behind. "Cut it out, right now!"

"You keep outta this!" The skinnier Zin pushed the Lombax away with a good amount of strength, keeping at his fight as his opponent started kneeing him in the stomach.

Rivet and Rusty ran onto the scene, ready to intervene themselves, before another male Zin ran in with a weapon withdrawn. He quickly shot a yellow ray into the head of one of the zins, before zapping the other.

Ratchet watched, confused, as the fighting zins soon stopped fighting, and started to smile as they froze…they each fell limply to the ground, still smiling as they lay on their backs.

The Zin then holstered his weapon, and looked over to Rivet, waving. "Hey!"

"Hi Jayce!" Rivet waved back, before motioning to the newcomers. "I want you to meet a couple of new friends. This is Ratchet and Clank."

"Welcome!" Jayce smiled as he turned to the duo. "Always nice to have new visitors at the Plaster Palace." He then looked to the two males who had been fighting. "Don't let these jokers fool you, this is usually a nice place…I just had the misfortune of having to serve two rival quantoball teams today."

"What did you do to them just now?" Clank asked him.

"Oh this?" Jayce pulled out his weapon once more. "This is the Intoxitron. Anytime you have a drunk causing trouble, you just fire this thing at him, and he'll start having extremely pleasant hallucinations, ones that'll quash any violent feelings…right now, our quantoballers are probably fantasizing about scantily clad girls." He chuckled a bit as he re-holstered the weapon.

"That's…a good weapon for a bartender, all right." Ratchet rubbed the back of his head as he smiled, walking with everyone inside.

"Oh, tell me about it…" Jayce smiled as he led the group into the well-maintained port's interior, the window already being repaired by small robots. "Back when my dad ran this place, he used to have to keep an old fashioned stun ray under the bar. Gave you a hell of a headache in the morning if you got hit by it."

Rivet led Ratchet to the bar, as Rusty and Clank observed the Zins who were playing all manner of bizarre bar games.

Moments later, Jayce provided both of the Lombaxes with glass bottles.

"Here's your usual…gave your friend one too, on me." Jayce smiled as he stood in front of the two.

"What's your usual?" Ratchet asked Rivet, as he sniffed his bottle a little.

"Alterian Ale…" Rivet smiled as she took a good-sized drink of it. "Ahh…made on the other side of this planet. Good stuff."

Ratchet nodded, as he took a sip from his. He kept it down, but reacted to it quite strongly.

"Oh, wow…" He coughed a bit. "That is potent."

"Rivet, mind how much of that you drink this time…" Rusty looked back and reminded her.

"Don't worry, Rusty." Rivet giggled a little. "I know we've got to stay sharp right now."

Jayce smiled a bit as he looked to Rivet. "Where'd you guys come from now?"

"Habilis…" Rivet simply responded.

"No way!" Jayce's jaw dropped. "How the hell did you get in there?"

"Looooong story." Rivet laughed a little as she drank from her bottle of ale.

"Wait a minute…" Jayce thought to himself for a moment. "I've been hearing stories…something about Korthos bullying the Chancellor into giving them ships…taking advantage of the cult down there."

"Well…" Ratchet set down his drink. "I wouldn't really call them a cult. I've seen plenty of worlds like that one where I come from. They're just…suspicious of most outsiders."

"Mmm…" Rivet nodded as she sipped again. "Now that I've seen the place for myself, I have to agree with him."

"Really?" Jayce set his arms on the bar as he listened. "And you actually talked to those people?"

"Yup." Rivet smiled. "I think someday they'll be ready to reach out to the galaxy. Just not right now."

"Well then…" Jayce smiled as he opened his own bottle and held it up. "Here's to the Habilites…and I hope I live long enough to see one come into my bar someday."

"Here, Here!" Rivet smiled as she and Ratchet held up their own bottles, toasting with him before sipping all at once.

A few moments later, another male Zin walked up to the bar.

"Hey buddy, is that your ship out there?" He spoke to Ratchet as he pointed towards the Aphelion.

"Yeah…" Ratchet nodded.

"Someone's out there trashing it!" The Zin informed him.

"What?" Ratchet got up quickly, and bolted towards the exit, nearly knocking over another bar patron.

Clank quickly ran off to join the Lombax, as he discovered Bankora smashing away at the Aphelion, with Toxoid watching him from behind.

"Hey!" Ratchet shouted, pulling out his Dynamo of Doom weapon. "That's a rare piece of equipment, you son of a cragmite!"

Bankora turned and growled at the two, before whipping his third arm, and sending a big glob of acid their way. Clank pushed Ratchet down as it sailed over his head, and hit one of the port's walls instead.

Rusty and Rivet soon ran out to join the others, as Ratchet fired off a dynamo on his stomach. It rolled towards Bankora, and made direct contact…but aside from making him shake a little, it didn't seem to do much.

"I remembered I hadn't paid you both back for the job you did on my dome…" Toxoid spoke as he tapped the repaired glass dome over his head. "I figured that now was as good a time as any."

"Combat form!" Rusty immediately ran towards the two as he shouted, his android body revealing itself once more, as Ratchet backed him up, pulling out his constructo shotgun now.

Bankora was there to meet Rusty, swiping at him with a claw. Rusty ducked and rolled behind him, as he then jumped up and kicked him right in the back. Bankora stumbled a bit as Rusty landed, but soon turned and whipped his third arm towards the android, wrapping it around his feet.

Rusty grunted and tried to grab the third arm, but Bankora was able to lift him with it, and slam him into the ground. Rivet immediately ran over and shot him in the chest with her Zin pistol, as Ratchet hit him hard in the face with a shotgun blast.

This made Bankora growl in pain, as he then dropped Rusty, swinging his third arm at the two lombaxes now. Rusty got up quickly as the creature did this, and tried to come in with a hard punch, before he had his arms grabbed from behind by Toxoid.

"No you don't!" Toxoid shouted, as he kicked Rusty in the back, making him stumble and fall onto his front. He then shot his own acid from his hollowed fingertips, as Rusty rolled away, getting a little on his back.

"Ah!" Rusty looked over himself, feeling something, as the little bit of acid ate away at much of the covering on the small of his back, exposing a few wires and chips in the process.

Rusty kept himself focused on Toxoid though, as he jumped again, and nailed him with a hard kick to the chest. Toxoid fell back and growled, now extracting the claws from his fingers as he swiped at him with each hand.

Rusty ducked the swipes expertly, and punched him hard in the dome, cracking it. Toxoid bellowed in dismay as this happened once again, falling back for a moment.

Meanwhile, Rivet ran in with her omniwrench, and swung for one of Bankora's claws. Bankora was able to grab the wrench, though, and bend it quite a bit in the grasp of his claw.

Rivet grunted in frustration, and let go, falling back as Ratchet ran to her side.

"Here…try this…" He handed her the groovitron glove.

Rivet looked it over, puzzled, but was quick to react to the lunging form of Bankora, as she jumped back. She then readied the weapon, and threw out what looked like a small disco ball.

Bankora stopped, and gazed at the ball, as it levitated into the air, and began playing dance music with its shiny lights. He suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to start dancing.

Toxoid took his attention away from Rusty for a moment, as he looked to see Bankora doing some strange little dance in front of his opponents. He ran over to ask him why he was doing this, before he suddenly felt the need to dance as well.

Ratchet quickly slipped Rivet another glove, as she then slipped into the area of the ball, and started dancing on her own. She wasn't terribly graceful, but she still managed to keep the two creatures interested for the moment, spinning past Bankora, and grabbing his claw.

Bankora happily spun with her at this moment, before she finally rolled away from him. Bankora still felt something in his claw, though, as he looked to see what was in it…

It was a constructo bomb.

**BOOM!**

Bankora howled out in pain as it went off in his claw, leaving nothing behind but a smoldering, smoking wrist. The effects of the groovitron ball had worn off now, as Toxoid quickly ran over to his partner.

"Blasted renegades!" He shouted as he began to run off with his injured comrade. "You may have been lucky so far, but one day that luck will turn in my favor! Never forget that!"

Rivet watched them run off, before attending to Rusty and his smoking back. "You OK?"

"I'll be fine…" Rusty nodded slowly. "Nothing internal was damaged heavily, it seems."

Rivet nodded back, before walking over to Ratchet. "What just happened with all that dancing, anyway? What was that thing you gave me?"

"Groovitron Glove…" Ratchet grinned. "Compliments of our good friends at Grummelnet."

"Grummelnet, huh?" Rivet giggled as she walked back in with the others. "What other toys do those guys make."

"I'll show you…" Ratchet smiled as he prepared to pull out some of his other gizmos…

* * *

Neross walked into his office slowly, gazing upon Decimus, who was now observing the tube in his corner. The android looked up at the Lombax as he entered.

"Well?" Neross had an almost eager look in his eyes.

"Reproduction is complete, sir…" Decimus nodded.

Neross froze at this, and closed his eyes for a moment, smiling.

"At last, my dear…at last we've done it…after years of research and hope, the moment we have been waiting for has finally arrived."

He then looked to Decimus as he opened his eyes. "Open the tube…"

"Yes sir…" Decimus nodded once more, before entering a code on the control panel. Within minutes, the door to the casket-like tube opened gently, steam rising from inside.

"Come, my son…" Neross spoke softly. "Come into this cruel, and unjust galaxy, so that together we may shine the light into its wretched face. Come to me!"

He watched closely, before he finally saw a white furred hand, with a few black stripes, grab onto the door from the inside, reaching out as it slowly pushed the door upwards.

More steam rose from this, as the form of what looked like an adult male Lombax slowly sat up. He had an icy, robotic look on his face, as he then got out onto the smooth floor of the office, taking his first few steps, dressed only in a pair of shorts. He then stood silently, looking straight at Neross.

"My son…" Neross smiled, remembering the name given to his lost newborn, placing a hand on the android's shoulder. "My dear Axel…at last, you live."

"Father…" Axel simply responded, in his deep, but soft voice…


	7. Decimus, The Brave

"OK…I think I've got it…"

Rusty turned a bit, as Rivet continued to weld away with her small torch, attaching a patch of metal over the parts that had been burned away by Toxoid's acid. Jayce was able to bring her some supplies from the ship repair shop, where the Aphelion currently was.

"Very good…" Rusty nodded in his robotic form as he checked himself out, before changing back to his Lombax form. "That will do until we can complete a more thorough repair job at our base of operations."

Rivet smiled and nodded as she put away the tools, while Jayce came in with a simple cup of juice for her this time.

"So, he's all fixed up?" Jayce smiled as he handed her the drink.

"Pretty much…" Rivet nodded as she sipped. "I just hope we don't get harassed by any other acid-wielding enemies."

Jayce nodded, before sitting and chuckling a bit.

"Oh man, I still remember the first time I saw him in his true form…Hiding behind those crates, and you trying to pull me out, telling me he didn't want to hurt anyone."

"Yeah, I remember that too…" She laughed and patted the Zin's back a little. "You were such a little coward in those days."

Jayce gave her an odd look, then laughed again and nodded. "Well…I'd like to think that the exposure to ruffians and drunks over the years has considerably hardened me."

"Oh sure…" Rivet smiled. "But even at your toughest, I can look at you, and remember those frightened, childish eyes you used to have…big as dinner plates." She giggled some more.

Jayce shook his head and chuckled. "You're lucky I like you, you know."

Ratchet walked in with Clank now, as Rivet rose to meet him.

"Hey! How's the Aphelion doing?"

Ratchet smiled. "I think she'll be fine in a little while. She's in good hands."

Clank nodded. "Yes. It took a little time to go over the basics of Lombax circuitry with the repairmen…but you Zins seem to be incredibly fast learners."

"Well, thank you…" Jayce smiled. "Though I've heard the Lombaxes were even better at this sort of thing themselves, from what Rusty's told me."

"Yes…" Rivet nodded a little. "But as we've seen with Neross, we know just how much trouble that only one of our race can cause, when they use their skills in such misguided ways."

"It's still so hard to picture…" Ratchet shook his head as he sat down. "It always seemed, according to the people in Polaris, that the Lombaxes had such a great sense of justice."

"Justice can mean many things to different people…" Rusty spoke as he walked forward a bit. "Put yourself in Neross' shoes…imagine the one you loved most, and the one who ensured your family name would live on, both wiped out in an instant. Wouldn't you feel like you had been dealt a great injustice? Wouldn't you feel the need to somehow rectify that injustice?"

Ratchet was deep in thought, eyes wide, as Rusty walked closer to him. "In his own sordid way, I would say that Neross believes that what he's doing is very just. What separates him from other Lombaxes, however, is that he is not mindful of the means in which he uses to attain his vision of justice."

"A very interesting point you make…" Clank nodded as he thought about this.

"If that's true…" Ratchet looked up at the android. "Then I think somebody should try to show him how his vision of justice has been hurting everyone else…maybe he can be reasoned with?"

Rivet shook her head, doubting that very much, but not saying so.

"I don't know…but I think we'd better prepare ourselves. With the Aphelion down, we're sitting ducks for Neross, and he knows that."

She then walked over to Rusty. "Let's go see Spurg."

"What for?" Ratchet tilted his head.

"Spurg's the only one who's been able to successfully modify Rusty in the past." Rivet smiled. "You know the plasma energy he gathers in his hand? Well, that's from a special mod-chip Spurg made for him a few years ago."

"Wow…" Ratchet nodded as Rivet walked out with Rusty.

"I wanna see if he's come up with any other upgrades Rusty could use in battle. Stay near your ship for now, and contact me if anything comes up."

"OK. See ya." Ratchet smiled and waved to the two.

Clank soon walked up near him, and looked up at him slowly.

"I see how you look at that girl…" He simply spoke.

"Huh?" Ratchet gave him a strange look, though trying to hide a blush.

"Just see that you keep your mind on your work, until this situation is resolved…that is all I will say on the matter." Clank then walked off to check on the progress of the repairs.

"He's imagining things…" Ratchet thought to himself, as he looked out towards Rivet, leaving the horizon with Rusty, his eyes fixed upon her.

"I hope I am too…"

* * *

"Neross! Neross! Neross! Neross! Neross! Neross!"

The crowd of robotic warriors, biomechanoids, and Skabs had all gathered to cheer on their leader, out in the main lobby on the base of operations of Korthos. The figure of Neross himself walked out onto the balcony above them.

His black armor shined in the artificial light of the building, the green trim glowing as he held up his arms in a slow, embracing fashion, a firm look still in his eyes, as the cheering slowly grew silent.

"My subjects…my warriors…my faithful creations!" He addressed them with his authoritative voice. "For all this time, you have served me well, and I have not forgotten your efforts, and noble sacrifices. Despite the efforts of the renegades, I am confident that we shall, one day, unite this sector in our vision, and shine the light of justice upon the rest of the Universe!"

The creations all cheered again, chanting Neross' name once more, as he held up his hands and silenced them once again.

"However…I am not blind to the fact that I am not immortal…Korthos will need leadership…strong leadership, when I am gone. This was a fact I secretly agonized over for years. When a Lombax has no one to leave his legacy to, he truly has nothing."

The crowd stayed silent as he continued to speak.

"For so long, in spite of all I have, I felt like I'd had nothing…until today."

Some of his creations muttered a bit amongst themselves, before he put up his hand once more.

"Today…I finally have an heir! The one I shall leave my empire to, upon my departure from this reality. You are all to treat him with the same respect and reverence in which you treat me, for he shall one day become the High Commander of Korthos."

A Door opened behind him on the balcony.

"I present to you all…my son! Axel!"

The minions cheered, as the form of the android, in his white-furred Lombax form, stepped out, wearing a black cloth outfit, trimmed with gold, as opposed to his creator's green, also wearing a black and gold trimmed cape, which flowed behind him.

The Android peered down at his future minions, and spoke.

"I am not so different from many of you…" His light, but powerful voice rang out over the crowd. "I was created…created out of cold steel, and unfeeling circuits and wires…but deep within my steel body, I feel the fiery heart of a Lombax,. It was the feeling my father gave to me, when he told me why I was created, and what my purpose was, as his son…"

The minions all listened to him silently.

"Although he wishes me to take over upon his death, my hope as that he lives long enough to see the day…the day when we can enter the other sectors of this sickened Universe, the worlds of those who did nothing while the Lombaxes were destroyed, and remind them…"

He then invoked the Lombax mythology behind the organization. "Remind them that when they stood by and watched that slaughter, that they immediately had made their deal with Korthos! And now, Korthos has returned to collect!"

All the minions cheered with renewed vigor as he called out the name of the dark god behind their organization's name, and began to chant Axel's name with Neross'.

All, except one…

Decimus walked away slowly, as another robot, called Balsky, walked up next to him.

"What's wrong sir?" The middle of his head was alight with circuitry as his orange and silver armor glinted. "You don't seem too enthused."

"When I offered to help with the High Commander's pet project…" Decimus looked straight ahead. "I had no idea of how far he planned on taking it." He looked down at his sword. "For years, I was his loyal servant, and best robotic warrior…all this time, I thought that I was to be the heir apparent."

"So what?" Balsky shrugged. "Did you really think he was going to leave an ordinary robot in charge when he died?"

"I can hardly be called an ordinary robot, Balsky!" Decimus snapped. "I am quite an exceptional robot, as you well know, and Neross knows he can always depend on me. I have my doubts as to whether or not this, this…upstart can feel the same way about me!"

"What are you going to do about it, then?" Balsky asked. "It seems his mind is already made up on the matter."

"There is only one way in which I can prove my worth, now…" Decimus walked towards an exit from the lobby. "I must destroy the one who has been the biggest thorn in Korthos' side…I must bring my master the head of Rusty…"

Balsky nodded, walking off in the other direction, as another figure listened in on the conversation.

"I guess that metalhead really DOES have an ego to bruise." Toxoid laughed a bit as he got up and walked off. "Well, we'll see just how much more bruised it can get, when we find and destroy that stupid android together first!"

He slowly walked off with Bankora, who now had a robotic claw to replace the one he lost in his last fight…

* * *

"And that ought to take care of the smoking problem…"

Rusty sat back in a chair, in his robotic form. His chest plate was completely removed now, wires and processor exposed, as Spurg made some adjustments with his tweezers, and soldering iron, currently fixing faults in the cooling systems.

"Yes…" Rusty nodded, looking down over himself. "I can already feel the fans running much more efficiently."

"Well, that's another issue fixed…" Rivet nodded as she carefully squirted some oil on each of Rusty's elbows, lubricating his joints, as Rusty flexed his arms and fingers, checking them out every few minutes.

"Now, this little guy…" Spurg slowly put down his tools, and picked up a brand new mod-chip he built. "I'm particularly proud of…once I install this guy into your verte-optical base, you should be able to calculate and analyze your opponents a lot faster than you have before…"

He picked up another mod-chip as well. "And this…this is a little update I made for your plasma generation modules. It'll give you a faster build-up of plasma energy, and the energy will have a little extra kick that hopefully only your enemies will feel."

"Careful Spurg…" Rivet looked up from her work. "Remember, he's just a prototype. We don't know how many mods and updates he can handle all at once."

"Relax." Spurg stuck out his tongue a little as he began to install the first mod-chip, carefully reaching into the wires around Rusty's neck. "This android's in good hands with me."

His neck suddenly gave off a spark, as Spurg grunted, and pulled his hand back, his finger a little burned.

"Oh dear…" Rusty moved his fingers along his eyes. "I seem to have lost my optical connection."

"Easily fixable! Easily fixable!" Spurg scrambled, repairing the damaged wires, as Rivet sighed a bit, and shook her head, smiling just a little.

Meanwhile, Ratchet walked over to a dessert stand in a park, not far from where Rivet and the others were.

"This must be the place." Clank spoke as he walked.

"Yeah…Rivet said Rusty used to take her here all the time for ice cream." Ratchet smiled as he walked to the counter slowly.

"It's amazing how quickly Rusty was able to pick up on what a child like Rivet would enjoy. A testament to his exceptional programming, I must assume." Clank looked up at the counter, and the slightly rotund male Zin behind it.

"What'll it be, boys?" The middle-aged Zin smiled, wearing a white apron and hat, as Ratchet looked over the menu above him.

"I'll try…the Anterian vanilla-nut cluster." Ratchet pointed to the menu for a moment.

"And I shall sample the Ruvulous raspberry ripple." Clank nodded to the server.

"You got it." The server nodded, getting them a small cup of each kind, with a spoon. As he walked back over, he looked over Ratchet.

"Say…are you related to those two other Lombaxes?" He asked as Ratchet paid for the treats.

"No no…" Ratchet shook his head. "They're just friends of ours."

"Ah." The server nodded. "Well those other two, they've been frequenting my establishment ever since that girl was this high…" He placed a hand down near his hips. "Back when I still had all my color, and before my mother retired." He motioned to his slightly graying skin."

"Yeah, she was telling me about this place earlier." Ratchet nodded as he picked up his dish, and handed Clank his. "Felt like I should check it out."

"Well then, tell her to go tell more of her friends about me." The server grinned as they walked off. "Good for business, don't you know?"

"Will do!" Ratchet waved to him, walking off as Clank took a quick little taste of his ice cream, moving his jaw rather quickly.

"Hmmmm…pleasing texture and flavor." The little robot commented. "Quite agreeable."

Ratchet took a taste from his spoon, and promptly closed his eyes as he chewed the nuts inside. "Mmmmm yeah…I can see why Rivet would like this stand in particular."

"I must get info from Rusty as to whether or not he has a favorite flavor." Clank spoke as he sampled more. "It'll be interesting to see if he is able to taste things, like I am."

"Well, Rivet's dad WAS a cell replicator." Ratchet took another bite from his dish. "I think he probably gave Rusty a tongue with all the taste buds as well."

"Ratchet!" Clank suddenly pointed out in the distance. "Over there!"

The Lombax looked over to see Toxoid's ship, hovering in the air, as Toxoid himself hopped out, along with the fixed-up Bankora. They had their backs turned to the duo, as they walked off.

"Huh…" Ratchet put down his dish. "They probably want to finish the job they started on our ship." He grinned down to Clank. "Feel like a sneak attack, buddy?"

"Well, I felt like sampling more of this wonderful ice cream…" Clank lamented as he put his dish down as well. "But I do not wish to see their plan of attack succeed either."

With that, he hopped onto Ratchet's back, as the Lombax took off, quietly, after the two biomechanoids.

Once they were gone, the ship's cargo door in the back opened up slowly, as Decimus stepped out, and hopped down onto the ground, knees bent.

"Those two idiots think they can beat me to the renegades…" Decimus thought to himself as he stood up. "Toxoid always was rather challenged in the strategy department."

He walked off slowly, as Ratchet and Clank stayed behind Toxoid and Bankora, ducking behind a trash bin for a moment.

"We must think of a way to catch them by surprise." Clank commented, softly.

Ratchet nodded. "I think I know just the thing."

Moments later, Toxoid looked up to see something moving towards him and Bankora. Something small.

"What is that?" Toxoid saw what looked like a little flying robot moving towards him.

"Heeheehee…" Toxoid was rather tickled at the moment. "He's kinda cute."

The robot then stopped right in front of him.

"Mr. Zurkon says you look like excrement!"

"WHAT?" Toxoid yelled as he extracted his claws. "Say that one more time!"

"Mr. Zurkon thinks you make Agorians look like beauty queens!"

"Get him, Bankora!" Toxoid yelled to his partner.

"Mr. Zurkon says enough chit-chat…you must DIE!"

With that, the little robot let loose a volley of blasters. They all hit Toxoid repeatedly in his armor, as Bankora was suddenly caught in a Mag-Net. He shook and screeched inside, as Ratchet ran in from behind, his constructo pistol now drawn.

His blasts hit Toxoid from behind, as Mr. Zurkon still hit him from the front. The Biomechanoid leader was completely caught off guard, collapsing onto his front, as Ratchet now turned his attention towards Bankora.

The creature's body smoked from the Mag-Net, as he growled and whipped his third arm, sending acid towards Ratchet. Ratchet leapt out of the way, and promptly launched a cryo-mine, just as Bankora was letting off another volley of acid.

The mine smashed into the acid, instantly freezing it, as it spread into Bankora's third arm, and into the rest of his body. He struggled to move faster, as Ratchet moved in and slashed away at the creature, hot sparks flying from his body, as each swing of his omniwrench cut into his armor.

"Look out!" Clank yelled, as he saw Toxoid sitting up, and firing his own acid from his hollow fingers.

Ratchet dodge-rolled out of the way, as the acid from the hurriedly firing Toxoid hit Bankora instead. Bankora yowled out in pain, armor smoking more, as Toxoid pounded the pavement in frustration.

This gave the Lombax an opening, as he quickly got out his Negotiator, and launched a missle, before jumping to another point, launching a second, and then jumping to another point and letting loose with a third.

Bankora stumbled as he saw three missles suddenly coming to him from three different angles.

"Goodbye…" Ratchet smiled and gave him an odd salute, as the three missles smashed into him at once. Bankora growled and staggered even more, as parts of his body began to explode, the energy of the attacks too much for him, as he finally collapsed, and blew up in a fireball.

The hurt Toxoid got back onto his feet, and stroked his slightly cracked armor, as he pointed towards Ratchet.

"You…you pests! He was my prized warrior!" He bellowed as he ran back to his ship. "Enjoy this now, because next time, I'm coming after you myself! We'll see who's smiling then, once I've pounded you both into a mush of guts and circuits!"

Ratchet just watched him run off, as Clank spoke to him from behind.

"Ratchet, we should probably go check on Rivet, and make sure no one else has ambushed her and Rusty."

"Good call…" Ratchet nodded as he ran off.

Meanwhile, Decimus walked slowly towards the same building where Dio and Spurg held their base of operations. He grasped the hilt of his sword, as he searched for a good entry point.

He soon sensed something moving towards him, suddenly, as he spun and withdrew his sword, slashing through the blaster shot aimed at him, as he held the impressive blade out his right side.

He looked up to see Rivet, who had fired her pistol, and Rusty, both standing on top of a nearby garage.

"Looking for us?" Rusty asked as he jumped down with his knees bent, standing up to face the robotic leader.

Decimus just stared at the android, and lowered his sword for a moment.

"It seems you did not learn your lesson from last time, prototype…" Decimus calmly spoke. "But if you are eager to humiliate yourself again by facing me, I'll gladly indulge you in one last showdown."

"Oh you're right…" Rusty nodded as he held out his arms. "This is going to be our last showdown…because after this one, you won't want another…I promise you…"

He narrowed his gaze at Decimus as he focused his energy.

"Combat form!"

Decimus simply stood and waited for his opponent, as the streaks of energy ran through Rusty's body once more, revealing his true android body. His processor spun like never before, as he grasped and readied each of his hands.

"Go on, Rusty…" Rivet thought to herself. "Show him what you've really got this time."

The two robots stood apart from each other, silently readying themselves as they worked their feet along the rough terrain near the building. They looked at each other as they sidestepped in time for a few moments.

This exchange would be shortened, however, as Rusty suddenly charged in, with his right arm extended once again, aglow in plasma energy.

Decimus, simply thinking Rusty was too eager, calmly obliged him, running in with his long sword at the ready.

The two soon met at the middle, and passed each other with a single blow, just like last time, the two simply standing there now, with their backs turned…

Only now, it was Decimus to suddenly feel pain. He grunted and saw his waist sparking from where Rusty had passed him, wires exposed now.

Decimus could hardly believe his eyes, staggering a bit as Rusty, who had been on his knee, arose and turned to meet his eyes. The new mod-chips had not only allowed the android to calculate an attack faster, but also seemed to help make his plasma charged arm a lot sharper.

"No…" Decimus readied his sword. "That was luck…pure luck!"

"Sure, Decimus." Rusty got into a fighting stance. "Keep telling yourself that."

Decimus slashed away with his sword now, giving his opponent 100 percent of his ability. Rusty dodged each swipe expertly, as all Decimus could get was a few lucky cuts into his outer shell.

Rusty then delivered a crescent kick with his left leg, knocking the sword out of Decimus' hand, as he then jumped and kicked the robot in the chest. Decimus fell down onto his back from the blow, as Rusty jumped in and prepared to let him have it with a plasma-powered fist.

Decimus rolled out of the way, and Rusty only hit the ground, as he turned, and nailed the android with a kick as he got back up. Rusty fell back now, as Decimus jumped on him, punching him hard across the face a few times, before picking up his sword. He then grabbed Rusty by the right wrist, and kept the blade at his throat.

"A good effort…" Decimus stared down at the face of his opponent. "But I am still the superior, and I shall still bring your head as a trophy to my High Commander!" He then pressed the blade little closer as he prepared to kill Rusty. "Make your last thought a pleasant one!"

Rusty didn't panic however, as he focused his power. Decimus didn't realize it, but now Rusty's left arm was beginning to gather plasma, thanks to one extra mod-chip that Spurg had made. He quickly brought it up, and chopped Decimus in the arm with it.

Decimus yelled out in pain as he fell back, getting back up with his sword in a defensive position.

Rusty kept his left hand aglow, as he also brought out his right hand, and focused, plasma gathering in it as well. Now, both of his hands were capable of dealing plasma charged attacks.

Decimus was speechless at this sight, as he then came in with another attack. Rusty simply ducked, and nailed him with a right-handed chop across the stomach. Decimus felt it cutting through his armor once more, as he groaned and fell back more, struggling to stay on his feet.

Rusty then jumped in and nailed him with a hard left across the face…then a right…then another left….the punches getting faster and faster, as Decimus also felt them smashing into his chest and stomach, powerless to stop the attack now.

Rivet grinned victoriously, as Rusty pounded away with amazing speed. After what seemed like an eternity to Decimus, Rusty finally stopped, allowing Decimus to drop down on his side.

Decimus' armor smoked, as he coughed a bit from all the damaged caused to his inner circuitry, while Rusty picked up the dropped sword, and simply looked down at the robot with it.

Decimus sat still now, preparing to be finished off, as he lowered his head.

But Rusty did not finish him…he simply dropped the sword near Decimus.

"You are defeated…" He spoke to his fallen opponent. "There is no need for death today."

Decimus was stunned, as he slowly rose, and staggered to pick up his sword, Rusty doing nothing as the robot faced him.

"Why?…" Decimus asked, part of his faceplate smashed off, with the circuitry exposed.

"Because you spared me in our last fight…" Rusty answered. "Plus, you have the privilege of being close to Neross. Now that you know what you and the others are up against at this point, you should consider talking some sense into your high commander. If you can convince Neross into ceasing his aggressions, then we can avoid the need for more fighting, and more deaths, particularly on your side."

Decimus looked himself over, realizing that this was the first time he had been so badly beaten, as he heard what Rusty told him. He then looked up, and nodded slowly.

"My Commander is the stubborn sort, but I shall do my best." He then walked past Rusty slowly as he left. "You are indeed an honorable warrior, and I hope that we might meet again, one day."

Rusty nodded slowly, and changed back into his Lombax form. He walked back to meet with Rivet, along with Ratchet and Clank, who ran onto the scene.

Decimus watched this reunion for a moment, before walking slowly onto another part of the landscape, hoping to find a communicator, so that he could get back in touch with Neross and the others.

He then sensed something in the shadows, behind him.

"You fancy yourself the 'heir apparent'…" A voice spoke in the shadows. "And yet you come away from fighting that prototype looking like a regular Skab."

Decimus turned slowly, and saw the form of Axel stepping out of the shadows, his personal ship parked nearby.

"I see that Neross has given you the gift of eavesdropping as well…" Decimus responded, simply.

Axel nodded gently. "And I can see that this exceptional robot before me has just been very badly beaten." He walked a bit closer to Decimus. "It seems that my doubts about you have been confirmed."

"Neross will be very displeased, when he hears that you've destroyed one of his best robots…" Decimus spoke, sensing Axel's intentions.

"On the contrary…" Axel smiled. "He will be pleased to know that the extra, dead weight of his operation has been disposed."

Axel then raised his right fist diagonally over his chest, towards his left shoulder, eyes narrowed as he focused for a moment.

"Combat form…" He calmly spoke.

Decimus watched, as Axel dropped his cape, streaks of black energy running through his body, as his true form revealed itself. A black android, lined with gold coloring over parts of the body, now shone through brilliantly, his red, blank eyes glowing as he held his arms out, still having Lombax-like ears, just like Rusty.

"I want to play a little game with you, Decimus…" Axel now spoke in his frightening, distorted robot voice. "If you can land one blow on me with your sword, then I shall acknowledge you as my equal."

Decimus wasn't sure what he was up against, but he wasn't about to turn down this challenge either. He lifted his sword in both arms, and even in his damaged state, charged valiantly towards Axel.

Axel simply responded by reaching into a holster, and pulling out a vicious looking blaster. He fired the weapon, which sounded almost like a magnum, as energy bullets smashing into Decimus' armor, as the robot futilely swung for the black android.

Axel expertly leapt out of the way, and fired more bullets, smacking Decimus on the face and chest. Decimus grunted, and with a final growl of energy ran towards Axel, prepared to meet him with a last ditch slash.

It proved to be his last move, ever…

Axel quickly moved under Decimus, and kicked him in his hand, making contact with the hilt of the sword. The weapon flew from Decimus' hands into the air, as Axel moved behind him, and grabbed the sword.

Decimus turned to meet Axel, as the black android connected with a single, diagonal slash…one that cut deep into his chest armor.

Decimus stood there, stunned, for a moment, feeling his life weakening now.

"Why…why must it end this way for me…after so much time, and loyal service…why must I be killed by my own side?" He spoke to himself, before looking to Axel.

"Damn you…Damn you and all the Lombaxes! Including the one who gave me my cursed life! DAMN YOU! GAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

His armor now sparked, and blew apart, as he felt all kinds of explosions wrack him from within his robotic body. He spun and stumbled for a moment, before he finally exploded into a brilliant ball of flame.

Decimus, the once proud commander of Neross' robotic legions, had now been destroyed.

Axel stayed silent, as he picked up Decimus' sheath from the burning wreckage, and slung it around his back.

He then carefully sheathed the sword itself, walking off with it, as the ground burned for a while longer, the smashed head of Decimus still visible on the ground…


	8. Mission Fulfilled

"What have you done?" Neross sternly asked his robotic son, as he stood in the middle of his chamber.

"I have simply relieved your organization of a useless minion…" Axel responded, coldly. "That is all."

"It is not yet your place to determine whether one such as Decimus shall live or die!" Neross pointed to him, admonishingly. "Whether he failed in his mission or not, he was still a valuable member of Korthos, and one of my oldest robotic masterpieces!"

"Precisely…" Axel nodded. "One of your oldest…and thus in need of replacement by someone new."

"Oh…I see…" Neross calmed himself now, nodding slowly as he walked around his creation. "Eager to climb the ladder, so you knocked off some of the competition."

"I did it only in the best interests of Korthos, Father." Axel responded, looking straight ahead.

"I'm sure you did…" Neross stifled a chuckle, as he saw his creation was already learning how to lie. "But if you truly want to do your duty for Korthos, and improve our lot in the Universe, then I'd suggest a much more suitable target than another one of our Generals."

Axel nodded slowly. "You are referring, of course, to the ones you call the renegades…the android known as Rusty, in particular."

"That is correct, son." Neross smiled as he walked away from Axel for a moment. "It was my belief that, upon your awakening, you would need some more time to gain your mental bearings, and slowly learn of your abilities, and your purpose…but it seems you've learned your powers quicker than I had even imagined…you even managed to defeat Decimus…"

He then walked to Axel, who still had Decimus' sword slung along his back. "I believe you might be ready to deal with the biggest problem facing Korthos now. I believe you could be able to destroy Rusty."

Axel nodded slowly. "I am, father…that lowly prototype shall not stand a chance against me. I am superior to his model in every aspect."

"Aware of your technical superiority as well, eh?" Neross grinned as he nodded. "Yes, indeed you are. I based your design on Rusty, true, but this time I worked out all the kinks he had. All that was lacking in such a long time, was the ability to emulate a chameloid circuit, but now…" He placed a hand on Axel's organic-feeling shoulder. "Now even that hurdle has been surmounted."

"I shall prove that your hard work wasn't in vain, father." Axel smiled a bit now. "I shall see to it that Korthos will do nothing but thrive from here on. I promise."

He bowed, respectfully, and then turned, walking out of the room as his cape flowed behind him.

All Neross did now was smile as he stood. He was still a bit flustered about his creation destroying his leader of the Robotic unit, but for now, he was too impressed by Axel's development to care all that much.

In fact, if Rusty was destroyed, he thought, the fact that Decimus was gone really didn't matter.

* * *

"Wow, I think that's the shortest repair session I've ever had with you." Rivet smiled as she walked with Rusty. The two of them were now walking away from the same dessert stand that Ratchet and Clank had been to earlier, each with their own ice cream, Rusty's in a dish, Rivet's in a cone.

"Yes…" Rusty nodded as he sampled lightly from his dish. "My only real damage had been some surface scratching. Quite remarkable."

"That Spurg…" Rivet licked her ice cream with a smile as she looked ahead. "I can't imagine what we could have accomplished without him or Dio."

"Not only that." Rusty raised a finger. "But Dio recently told me that Syrus did indeed confront the Chancellor about her dealings with Korthos, showing her documents that Dio gave him as proof. I have a feeling that Neross will have no more cooperation from the government here."

"More good news." Rivet nodded. "I think now really may be the time to strike at the heart of Korthos."

"I believe you may be correct." Rusty nodded. "I think once we're finished here, we can gather everyone, and assemble a battle plan…at last we can put an end to this matter."

Rivet looked around at the area and smiled. "This brings back so many memories, every time we come to this place. Ever since I was little." She sat back on a bench nearby.

"I remember as well." Rusty smiled a bit as he joined her. "Neither of us had really tried ice cream before, and we were both a bit unsure." He sampled from his dish once more. "But once we tried, you in particular seemed to fall in love with it."

Rivet nodded and smiled as she licked from her cone. Rusty thought to himself for a moment. "It's odd…I've experienced so many things since my creation…so many great, terrible, and wonderful things…yet it's little things like this that my memories race back to."

Rivet grinned. "Oh, that's not uncommon at all. I go through that a lot myself. It's all a part of life. The little things seem to make all the difference. That's what a lot of people say, anyway."

"Indeed…" Rusty nodded a bit, as he sampled from his dish again.

"Say, Rusty?" Rivet looked up from her cone.

"Yes?" The android answered.

"What do you think about Ratchet?" She asked him, a curious, but interested look in her eyes.

"Well, he's been a tremendous boon to our efforts, as a start." Rusty began, "He and his robotic partner, Clank, clearly have had experience in dealing with troublesome people like Neross, and they've come through for us in every situation with that experience…plus, I might add, he is the only Lombax, other than Neross, that we have come into contact with for quite some time."

Rivet narrowed her eyes a bit at the last part of his statement. "So?"

"So…" The android set down his empty dish "I would suggest, that once we have straightened things out with Neross, that you should consider leaving this sector with him. You do consider him a friend, do you not?"

"Yes…" Rivet blushed a bit, knowing what Rusty was getting at. "But what about you? Don't you remember, you have a mission to protect me."

"Rivet…" Rusty gave her a slightly serious look. "Your father wanted me to protect you, until you were old enough to fend for yourself. I believe you have just about reached this point now, and I think your life from here on would be better spent with others, particularly real Lombaxes like Ratchet."

Rivet nodded slowly, deep in thought now, as Rusty put a hand on her back. "Remember…I am merely a prototype. I will not be able to protect you forever."

Rivet nodded slowly, looking up at him quietly.

Their silence was soon interrupted by someone running onto the scene.

"Rivet! Rusty!" Dio ran towards them, looking bruised and scratched.

"Dio!" Rivet threw her cone in the trash and ran towards him. "What's going on?"

Dio collapsed onto his knees. "It's Spurg! Somebody ran into our headquarters and kidnapped him! He's coming after me too!"

"Rivet!" Rusty suddenly shouted.

Rivet looked up to see a blaster shot moving towards her and Dio. She grabbed her friend and dodged the blast, as Rusty sidestepped it as well.

They looked up to see Axel stepping out of his personal ship from above, Spurg unconscious and bound in one of the back seats. He landed smoothly onto his knee, his newly won sword still sheathed along his back as his cape flowed in the wind.

"Rusty…" Rivet walked back to his side with Dio in tow.

"Identify yourself…" Rusty coldly addressed Axel as he rose to his feet.

"I…" Axel smiled as he walked closer. "I am Axel…I am you…a more advanced version of you, to be exact. I have come to put an end to this little spy network, and finally put you and your organic renegade friend out of commission."

Rivet stood there, listening, stunned, as Rusty thought for a moment, then looked to his shoulder.

"Of course…" Rusty nodded. "That's why Decimus spared me that one time…he wanted data on how I took organic form, and tried to duplicate the technique…I see he was successful in this attempt."

"Of course…" Axel nodded with a smile. "But it was a move that, ultimately, cost dear Decimus his life…" He withdrew the sword he took from the former Robotic leader, and showed it off.

"No remorse over killing someone who was already wounded and defenseless." Rusty shook his head slowly. "You truly are Neross' creation."

"You can preach to me, Prototype…" Axel frowned a bit as he pointed his sword at Rusty. "Once you have driven me to my knees…something that I very much doubt you'll be able to do. In fact, it shall soon be you who are driven to the stinking ground, and your organic underling with you!"

"You will not harm this girl…" Rusty narrowed his gaze as he stepped out in front of Rivet. "I swear on my life that you will not even scratch her!"

"Rusty, hold it!" Rivet called to him. "Wait for Ratchet and Clank to get here!"

"I'm afraid they'll be a bit occupied…" Axel looked to the distance, as he saw Ratchet and Clank running onto the scene, getting off of the jet bike they borrowed from Rivet.

The Lombax already had his robotic friend on his back as he prepared his constructo pistol, before something suddenly jumped onto the scene in front of him.

"Greetings, renegades!" Toxoid shrieked with glee as he surprised the two with a group of Skabs around him. "I told you I'd return! Now I can inflict all the wonderful pain you've inflicted on me!"

Ratchet scowled, and began to fight the group with Clank, as Rusty watched, and turned to face Axel once more.

"At last…" Axel smiled as he dropped his cape. "My father's greatest foes die on this day…" He held up his sword for a moment, then swung it off to his side as he stood. "Combat form!"

"Combat form!" Rusty quickly responded, as the two quickly began to transform, bolts of energy running over each of their bodies. Axel's black and gold android body was soon revealed, as the blue and red form of Rusty's true body shone through.

The two androids faced each other silently, as Axel stuck his sword in the ground, wanting to test out his opponent hand-to-hand first, as he got into a fighting stance. Rusty soon got into his own stance, as Rivet watched on…

Rusty charged first, running towards Axel, as the black android leapt into the air, and landed behind him, trying to hit him with a punch. Rusty quickly dodged the punch, as he turned, and kicked Axel in the abdomen.

Axel grunted a bit and backed off. "You're better than I thought…I detect quite a few mod-chips in you."

Rusty didn't speak, instead, punching at Axel quickly. Axel dodged and blocked each punch, before grabbing a right hand headed for his chest.

"However…there's a difference between being made great, and being born great, prototype!"

He then nailed Rusty across the face with his own right fist, instantly cracking the metal on his cheek. Rusty grunted in pain, as Axel then threw off Rusty's hand, and kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying back a few feet.

Rusty quickly scrambled back to his feet, stroking his cracked face for a moment, before he ran in and jumped, his leg extended in a kick. Axel quickly countered with a roundhouse kick as Rusty came in, smashing him across the neck and chest.

Rusty spun and fell with sparks flying as he hit the ground, rolling out of the way, as Axel tried to hit him with a kick while he was down. He grabbed the black android by the leg, and quickly came up with a chop, hitting him in the knee with it.

Axel yelled as sparks flew from his knee, falling back and checking his leg, as Rusty got back onto his feet once again. Axel looked over to his sword, as Rusty powered up one of his hands with plasma, leaping into the air near him.

Axel rolled out of the way of the attack, and pulled the sword out of the ground, hitting Rusty's arm with a quick upward slash. Rusty's arm sparked as he fell back and grunted, wires exposed on his limb, as Axel ran in and slashed away.

Rusty dodged two diagonal slices, before jumping to avoid a slash made at his legs. In midair, he then punched Axel in the face with his powered up hand, burning him a little.

Axel growled in pain as he fell back, making sure his faceplate wasn't melting, as Rusty focused, working past his damaged arm and face, and managed to make both his hands glow with plasma once again.

Axel stood with his sword in a defensive stance, as Rusty ran in and chopped at Axel with amazing speed, the black android blocking his opponent's chops with his sword, as the weapon and powered hands clashed, making sparks fly everywhere.

Rusty then tried to nail Axel with a double-chop aimed at his neck, before Axel brought his sword upward, blade pointed up at Rusty's arms, as the two weapons caught each other.

A mighty clash ensued as Rusty grunted and pushed with all his might, his hands still aimed at Axel's neck. Axel kept up a strong defense as well, as his strong sword pushed back against the powerful plasma, sparks flying in all directions as the two tested their strength.

Rusty kept pushing, until he felt something…his plasma output was beginning to weaken. In his efforts to defeat Axel, he hadn't realized the kind of strain that the new mod chips were going to put on his battery power. Axel sensed this weakening, and was quickly able to run his sword along Rusty's hands, slicing deeply into his palms.

Rusty grunted loudly and fell back as more sparks shot out from his body. Axel laughed a little under his metal face.

"You see? You see what I mean?" He grinned. "I was born for this level of power. You can only die from it!"

He then ran in and slashed Rusty across the stomach, and then up across the chest with his sword, cutting deep into the android's armor.

Rusty grunted and staggered as more and more of his body sparked with the damage he took. Axel then put his sword away, and decided to punish Rusty a bit more, as he ran in and kicked him in the chest, knocking him down.

Axel then hopped on top of Rusty, and pummeled away at his face with only his right fist, pounding and pounding, and pounding. Rusty felt bits of his face covering being chipped away, bits and pieces of his wires and circuits exposed.

Axel reared back for another punch, before something hit him in the side.

The black android grunted and rolled off of Rusty, looking up to see Rivet standing near him, aiming her pistol.

"You stay away from him!" She shouted, a frightened look on her face.

"Or you'll do what, exactly?" Axel looked at her, quizzically, as he got back onto his feet.

Rivet silently kept her gun trained on Axel, as stood and looked down at Rusty, who was moving weakly on the ground.

"I want him to suffer some more, before he dies…" Axel looked back at her. "And truth be told, I only really need one of your spies. I was just chasing the other one to draw you out into the open."

He then looked off to his ally. "Toxoid! We've got what we need here! Get back to your ship!"

"Aww!" Toxoid had simply been watching Ratchet fight off the Skabs, while preparing to engage himself. "Guess this is gonna have to wait, furball!"

Ratchet blew up the last few Skabs with a fusion bomb, before watching Toxoid run off. He then looked over at Rusty and gasped, running to his aid with Rivet.

"Rusty!" Rivet sat him up, slowly. "Rusty, are you OK?"

"So much…for the mod chips…" Rusty spoke, half-jokingly. As his body smoked from the damage, hanging limply in Rivet's arms.

Clank quickly scanned him. "Oh my…this isn't good. He's an inch away from running on emergency reserve power."

"Ratchet!" Rivet pointed to Axel as he fled on his ship. "He's got Spurg! He's gonna force him to reveal his entire network, or kill him in trying!"

Ratchet nodded as he took out a communicator. "Aphelion! Get over here now!"

"On my way!" The ship spoke in return over the comm.

"Clank and I are gonna keep Rusty alive for as long as we can." Ratchet put his hands on Rivet's shoulders. "You need a small ship in a chase like this, and you know the terrain and roads here better than me, so I want you to go after this guy in the Aphelion."

Rivet nodded quickly, as Aphelion swooped onto the scene. She quickly ran over and hopped in, taking the controls, and blasting off once the cockpit had closed.

She flew through the aerial roads over Guyvus City, her eyes wide open as she scanned the traffic.

Axel had detected her earlier, however, as She soon found a volley of missles from his ship headed towards her. She quickly put the ship in a barrel roll, and avoided all the missles, one of them just narrowly hitting the wing of Aphelion.

She quickly responded with the homing missles she found on the controls, sending two out after him. Axel expertly spun, and quickly moved in front of a pillar nearby, as the missles collided with that instead.

Rivet kept her eyes trained on Axel's ship, as she quickly moved behind him, and began to gain ground. She then fired off her machine guns, as Axel quickly swerved, and saw a tunnel nearby, diving into it.

Axel looked behind him as he quickly went into the tunnel, seeing no one behind him. He then relaxed for a moment, and continued to pilot his way through the rest of the tunnel.

Once he got out, he was suddenly caught off guard by two homing missiles coming in from behind. He had no time to dodge, as they both smashed into the back of the ship, disabling one of the engines.

Rivet had gone through another tunnel she knew of, one that came out right from underneath Axel's tunnel. This is how she figured she'd be able to catch him, which she did.

"Good strategy, Rivet." Aphelion spoke to her. "You're just as good a pilot as Ratchet…and much gentler with the steering, for what it's worth."

Rivet grinned. "Thanks." She responded, as she followed Axel's ship, which had to make an emergency landing nearby.

Meanwhile…

"Where…Where is Rivet?" Rusty spoke, his consciousness rather fuzzy, as Ratchet worked on him, Clank hooked to him with a power-sharing wire.

"Don't worry about that." Ratchet shook his head as he worked fast on Rusty's wires, along with Dio. "We need to keep you from losing any more battery life at the moment."

"Where? Where?" Rusty's voice was a little more distorted as he looked around.

"Rusty, please…" Clank patted his head a bit. "You're in no condition to fight this new android now."

Rusty slowly remembered now, as he slowly scanned his memory banks, and got a fix on Rivet's location, able to track her DNA signature ever since she was young.

"No…No." He got up slowly. "She will die if she fights him herself."

"Get back down!" Ratchet tried to push him back to the ground. "I meant it!"

"Must protect!" Rusty pushed him away with a burst of strength, as he snapped his connection to Clank.

"Rusty, no!" Clank Protested.

Rusty wouldn't listen though, as he ran over to the parked Jet Bike, and took off.

As this was happening, Axel tried to make his emergency landing, but came in too fast. The impact on the ground sent him crashing through the cockpit, and rolling out onto the ground, where he lay motionless for a moment.

This gave Rivet her chance, as she quickly landed the Aphelion, and ran over to the crashed vessel, opening it up. She quickly pulled Spurg out of his seat, and unbound him, as Axel quickly woke up and got back onto his feet.

Rivet quickly turned to face Axel, with her omniwrench drawn.

"You ARE a gutsy one." Axel commented as he took out his sword once more. "It's going to take quite some time to fix my ship in this state. But it will be sooner than your pathetic guardian will be back on his feet."

Rivet frowned and yelled out in anger as she swung her wrench, clashing with Axel's sword. She saw an opening, as she parried one of his slashes, and tossed the wrench into his chest, spinning as it slashed into him a bit.

Axel yelled in pain as the wrench flew back into her hands, the Lombax then pulling out her pistol and firing. One of the shots hit Axel in the hand as he fell back and rolled to dodge the other blasts.

Rivet then ran in with her wrench and slashed away with her wrench, smacking Axel across the face with it more than once. Axel was surprised at this girl's burst of strength, but that surprise soon gave way to anger.

He quickly thumped her in the stomach with a fist, stopping her in her tracks, as he then grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her into the air, his red eyes piercing her with their gaze.

"I'm afraid that guts can only get you so far, child…" He spoke in a menacing tone. "And it looks like that's a life lesson you've learned rather too late!"

He prepared to skewer the female Lombax with his sword, before something from out of nowhere hit him in the back.

"Rusty!" Rivet called out in surprise.

Axel grunted and turned to see the smashed up Android, who had just fired the mounted lasers on the jet bike, landing near the Aphelion, and leaping off with a new burst of energy.

"I can see where she gets her perseverance from…" Axel shook his head slowly as Rusty faced down his opponent one more time.

"You will not hurt her!" Rusty shouted, as he powered up his hands with a surge of plasma.

"I wanted to have some more fun with you first…but if you insist on dying now…" Axel readied his sword once again.

"Rusty, don't do it!" Rivet looked on, shocked.

The brave android charged in, meeting up with Axel as he prepared to swing his sword once again. Rusty was able to knock away Axel's sword hand, though, as he came down with his other hand in a single, diagonal chop, that sliced through Axel's chest plate.

Axel grunted, shocked, as he stood, while Rusty took a few steps back, watching. The plasma sizzled through the black androids wires, as the energy seemed poised to overtake him.

However, in his state, Rusty's plasma wasn't strong enough to destroy Axel. The android regained his stance as his body smoked, looking at the big diagonal mark etched into his chest plate.

He then growled in anger as he charged Rusty with a flurry of sword slashes, as Rusty dodged each slash as best as he could…

Until a single stab from the sword impaled him through the chest…

Rivet gasped, and stood there in stunned silence. The blade had pierced Rusty's chest, and gone straight through his processor. Rusty grunted weakly for a moment, before Axel pulled out his sword, letting Rusty collapse onto his knees, and then onto his chest.

"RUSTY!" Rivet yelled out, as she stood there, horrified at the sight of Rusty, defeated, and apparently dead.

"There, there, child…" Axel walked towards her calmly, brandishing his sword. "You shall not have to mourn him for very long. I'll see to it."

"AXEL!" Rusty's voice suddenly roared out behind him.

Axel quickly turned to see Rusty running towards him. His processor was spinning faster than ever, as he prepared his right arm in one last-ditch attack, overloading himself with plasma energy.

Axel had no time to react, as Rusty punched him in the stomach with his overloaded hand. His entire arm exploded upon impact, sending the black android flying into the air, and back onto the ground as he rolled and rolled, finally landing on his back.

Rivet looked on as her guardian, smashed up, and now missing an arm, once more dropped onto his knees, rolling over onto his back now as he fell. Meanwhile, Axel got back up slowly, to find a good portion of his chest plate now burned away, along with parts of his faceplate.

"Toxoid!" He shouted into a comm. "Come and get me now! I've incurred heavy damage!"

Ratchet and Clank quickly arrived with Dio, who had driven them there in his own little vessel, all three of them only arriving to see Toxoid's ship leaving, with Axel's ship in tow.

They then looked down to see Rusty and Rivet, as Dio quickly woke up Spurg, and ran over to join them, Ratchet and Clank walking slowly, as the reality began to set in for them first.

Rivet knelt by Rusty, a sad look on her face, as Spurg quickly looked him over, and gazed back at Rivet, before lowering and shaking his head.

"The damage is too great…I can't fix this…"

"Rivet…" Rusty looked up at the female. "Hold me up, for just a moment…"

Rivet sniffled a bit and nodded, carefully lifting the broken android into her arms.

"Rusty…why?"

"Because you would have died if I hadn't done this…" Rusty spoke slowly. "Remember…my mission…is to protect you…even at the cost of my own life…"

"But there has to be something we can do now, to save you!" She looked desperate as she spoke. "There HAS to be!"

"Rivet…" Rusty spoke, still calm. "I have done all that I can for you…I knew the day would come when my strength would fail, and you would be left to your own…it is something…that all guardians…all parents know will happen, in the end…"

"Don't go, Rusty…" Rivet cried a bit as she held him close. "Don't die!"

"You've made me so proud…" Rusty's voice grew fainter. "And I know…I know you've made your parents proud too…" He then reached into his chest plate, and pulled something out.

"Take this…" He said, weakly putting the chameloid circuit into Rivet's hand. "Now, you must carry your father's legacy…Be strong…pass on the knowledge…the power…"

"Rusty, please…" Rivet now had tears streaming down her face. "Stay with me…"

"I…Love you…Rivet…Goodbye…"

With that, the glow faded from the android's eyes, and his body went limp. He had never told rivet before that he had loved her, but that was because he didn't really know what love was…but then, at the final moments of his life, he finally understood.

"Rusty…Rusty…Rusty…"

Rivet sobbed now as she placed her head on his shoulder, while Ratchet walked over and stroked her back, comfortingly, as the others sadly watched on.

Rusty…Brave and magnificent Rusty…was no more.


	9. Tears and Triumph

Balsky was finishing his repairs on Axel, the android sitting in a comfortable chair as he worked, as Neross quickly came in, an anxious look on his face.

"My son…" Neross started softly. "Is it true what everyone is saying? Is it true that you accomplished what I had worked for years to do? Did you really kill Rusty."

"I wasn't sure at first, Father…" Axel spoke in his distorted, electroinic voice, as he remained in robotic form. "I had to send a couple of Skab spies to confirm it…but it is true…" He rose as Balsky finished his work, and returned to his Lombax form with a smile on his face. "Rusty will give you no problems from here on."

Neross grinned as he heard this, overjoyed, as he walked over to his creation, and gently placed his hands on his furred cheeks.

"Well done, my boy…well done!" The older Lombax beamed. "You have made me, and the soul of your mother, very happy today. The next step in the evolution of Korthos can finally proceed!"

"Not quite, father…" Axel smiled a bit, before his face turned serious again. "We still have Groden's daughter, the other lombax, and their cohorts to deal with. Even without Rusty, they could still prove dangerous if left unhandled."

"Indeed…always a wise thing to think ahead." Neross nodded as he walked through the room, thinking. "I believe that since you're the one who killed Rusty, Axel, you should be the one to lead this charge, if you feel up to it."

"I am always prepared for duty…" Axel nodded, before looking to the Robot who repaired him. "Balsky…I should very much like to have you accompany me as well. Alert Toxoid too, and tell him to bring one of his fighters."

"Right away sir!" Balsky bowed, eager to serve the one who vanquished Rusty, as he then made his way out of the room.

"The day of reckoning shall soon be upon this universe, father…" Axel turned with a smile to his creator, and sheathed his sword once again. He also picked up his gun, which he left behind on his last fight, wanting to prove he could win without it. "And as always, I shall be at the forefront, to ensure that they never forget…never forget about what happened to you, my mother, and the lombaxes."

He then hugged his creator for a moment with one arm, and walked out of the room. Neross smiled as he watched Axel leave, before walking over to a window, and taking the locket out of his suit…he opened once more, it to reveal the picture of the pretty female Lombax, his wife.

"My dear Floria…" He thought to himself. "If only you could see him now. He's so much more than either of us could have hoped for in a son. You would be proud…so proud…my love."

He closed the locket, and then his eyes, a single tear forming in one of them…

* * *

At the familiar sight of the Plaster Palace, everyone, except Rivet, had gathered at the bar to remember their fallen comrade.

"Here's to you, Rusty…" A sullen Jayce held up a glass of ale, as Ratchet soon followed suit, along with Syrus, Dio, and Spurg, while Clank looked down at the bar, a similarly sullen look on his face.

"I barely had a chance to get to know him better…" The small robot lamented.

Ratchet sighed after sipping from his glass. "I know…he was such an amazing guy, as a fighter, and a friend, for the brief time we knew him."

Jayce put down his glass, and looked down at his bar. "I just don't know how I'm gonna get used to not seeing him anymore. I knew the guy since I was a kid…he and Rivet were practically family to me by the end."

"Speaking of Rivet…" Clank looked up for a moment. "It's a shame that she didn't want to come with us tonight."

"Well…" Ratchet sighed. "I think she just wants to be alone right now. I mean, Rusty was all she knew for so many years…all that time he protected her, and fought alongside her when she grew up. He was her second father, really."

"He was like a father to us, too…" Dio spoke up as he nodded, drinking from his glass.

"Yeah…" Spurg nodded in agreement. "Ever since we started our little network, we kinda had to cut ourselves off from the family, so nothing bad ever came to them, you know? Rusty, though, he was always there. He and Rivet always came by to make sure we were OK."

"I may not have known Rusty as long as you all have…" Syrus spoke as he set down his own glass. "But I do know one thing…if it had been me that died, I wouldn't want everyone mourning me forever…especially with Neross, Axel, and all of his other pet monsters still out there…I don't think Rusty would want that either…he'd want us to keep going with our mission, once the time was right."

"He's right…" Ratchet nodded as he spoke. "We can't just sit here and keep feeling sorry for Rusty…if we're not careful, Axel may use this opportunity to kill ALL of us at once."

"But how do you propose we fight him, Ratchet?" Clank gave him a skeptical look. "You saw first hand how powerful that android is. He was like a supercharged version of Rusty, and much more ruthless."

"Maybe I could go back to our HQ for a bit." Spurg thought to himself, before looking to the duo. "I think I could probably cook up some new weapons for you guys."

Moments after he said, this, his communicator, a cell-phone-like device in his pocket, went off. He picked it up and answered.

"Hello?" He spoke softly, quirking his eyebrow for a moment.

"What?…OK…" He nodded a little. "I'll be right over…"

He then turned the device off.

"Who was that?" Ratchet asked.

"Rivet…" Spurg looked over to him, surprised. "She wants me to come over to HQ…just me…and she said 'bring coffee'…" He sighed and shook his head. "That means she's up to something that's gonna require a LOT of brainpower from me."

Dio nodded a little. "Whatever it is, then, I think you'd better help her…"

"Right…" Spurg nodded as he quickly walked away. "See you guys, later…"

Clank thought to himself, and hopped down from his seat. "I believe I shall pay Rivet a visit as well. I'll be back when I can."

"OK…" Ratchet nodded as he sat. "See ya, buddy."

Meanwhile…

Rivet stared down at the remains of Rusty, now lying motionless on a table. The reality of his being gone had hit her a long time since they brought him into the room, but still…she couldn't stop looking.

It was then that memories came flowing back…the nights when she woke up on the small ship that Rusty had taken in his escape with her, crying for her mommy and daddy as a toddler. Rusty would always come in at that point, and hold her in his arms for as long as she needed it, even if it took most of the night for her to settle down. She even recalled a few times when he actually kissed her on the forehead as he tucked her back into bed, having seen her father do it many times before.

Then there was the time when Rusty learned about the customs of birthday parties, and managed to put one together for her on Zinjan when she turned 8. He had brought her, and a young Jayce, out to the Guyvus City Park, and had even convinced the owner of the stand they went to for ice cream, to bake a cake for the occasion.

It was one of the happiest days of her life. When she blew out those candles, and opened the few presents that Jayce brought from himself and his parents, she felt like a regular little girl, and not the constantly pursued child in the company of a disguised android.

Her mind then raced to her teenage years, when she gathered the parts for her first jet bike. Rusty helped her put it together, of course, and the look on his face when she finally rode off on it for the first time was one of calm satisfaction, approaching the level of a proud parent.

And now…here he was…the one who had watched over her, and fought for her for all these years…dead.

"Hello, Rivet…" She heard a voice call to her, as she turned around.

"Clank…" Her eyes took a surprised look. "Why aren't you off drinking with the others?"

"Alcohol has never fully agreed with my sampling circuits…" The little robot lamented. "Plus…there's something I've been wanting to tell you since what happened, happened."

Rivet sighed a bit, turning back to Rusty's body. "What?"

"Did you know…" Clank started. "That I have a soul?"

"You do?" Rivet turned back with a surprised look in her eyes.

"Yes…" Clank nodded. "I may have been built in a factory, but I was given a soul by a wise old Zoni named Orvus…in a sense, he was my father."

"Wow…" Rivet's mind raced at the idea of a robot having a soul, as she looked back to Rusty. Clank soon walked up next to her, and stood on a box next to the table where Rusty lay, getting up a little higher.

"It is my belief…" Clank spoke once more. "That Rusty has a soul as well."

"Really?" Rivet blinked a bit. "But…there was no alien who gave him a soul, as far as I recall."

"That is what made Rusty such a superior robot…superior to even myself, I'd say…" Clank nodded as he made his next point. "Nobody gave him his soul…he EARNED a soul."

"Earned it?" Rivet looked back to Rusty's lifeless form.

"Yes…" Clank continued. "By looking after you, comforting you, raising you…he slowly learned the true meaning of good…putting himself before others. Giving of himself to one he truly cared for, day after day, without complaint. Until, finally, he was willing to lay down his life for you when he felt it necessary."

A single tear ran down Rivet's cheek as she looked over Rusty, thoughtfully.

"Think of it…" Clank continued. "He was merely a prototype…he was not meant to do as much as he did for so long. He was able to overcome his obsolescence for years and years, all the while, obtaining a level of nobility that most organic creatures could hardly even dream of. This is why I believe he has a soul, and is now looking over you, and smiling with pride."

Another tear ran down through Rivet's face, as Clank reached up, and patted her back.

"I just wanted to tell you that…" Clank spoke once more. "Let that stew in your mind, as you figure out how to move on, which I and Rusty believe you can do."

Clank then hopped down from the box, and walked off.

Rivet stood in the darkness surrounding Rusty…her mind lost in her thoughts.

"Rusty…" She walked over and ran a hand along his metal face, thinking to herself. "There was so much more for us to do…and so much more I wanted us to do."

She closed her eyes and stroked his smooth metal chest. "It's not fair…it's not fair that it ended this way for you…"

She breathed in a little more sharply, feeling anger mix with her sadness. "Why does he have to keep killing like this?" She thought of Neross as she furrowed her brow over her closed eyes. "Why were my parents not enough for him? Why did he have to take you away too? Why does he have to deny me even the smallest bit of happiness in my life? Why do I have to keep paying for his losses?"

She looked once more over his form, letting the anger dissipate for a moment. "Well…I know you'd want me to move on from here, Rusty…and that's exactly what I'm going to do…"

She pulled the chameloid circuit out of her pocket, and looked at it for a moment…she then reached over to his chest plate, and with a few tugs, broke it off. She then reached in, began pulling out the wires and circuits inside, looking for a few parts to use.

"I'll move on…but I'll never forget you!" She thought, with determination in her eyes. "Neither will Neross, and all of his other intergalactic bullies. As I cut them all down, including that bastard Axel, they'll remember you, and what they did to you!"

She then pulled out an important circuit, and stored it in a box, as she walked to a computer for a moment, still thinking. "When it's down to just Neross and I, I'll make him see…see that there's far more to this universe than his own suffering. I'll show him, for the sake of all innocent families, who have never experienced the horrors that I have, and never will, as long as I am alive to see to it!"

She began to create a new program on the computer, looking over the chameloid circuit for a moment as she typed away…

* * *

"Toxoid, report."

Axel addressed the Biomechanoid leader, as he turned in a corridor on his ship, walking towards the android Lombax.

"Ah, my liege…" Toxoid bowed, eager to curry favor with Axel now. "It is an honor to serve by your side once more."

"Who did you bring for the mission?" Axel asked, getting straight to the point.

"Ah, yes!" Toxoid nodded as he turned to another corridor. "Zakembor! Come forth!"

Axel turned to see a ferocious, praying mantis-like creature with wings step towards him and Toxoid, growling a bit as he opened his serrated jaw for a moment, purple armored skin glistening a bit in the light.

"Master Axel…" Zakembor hissed in delight as he swished his long tail below. "Toxoid did well to select me for this final mission. I promise you, I shall show those pests on Zinjan a whole knew meaning of pain before they finally pay the price for opposing Neross!"

"Bold words…" Axel had a slightly skeptical look on his face. "But my father and I have heard such bold words before from others, who are now dead. You'd do well to ensure that you could back up such talk. Remember, even in defeat, and the loss of their comrade, our opponents are still potentially dangerous."

"Oh, I assure you…" Toxoid grinned. "We both came prepared!"

He then held up his hands, showing off new gauntlets he placed on his wrists. With the push of a button, they sprouted long, organic, but very sharp blades, four on each gauntlet, as they stretched and spread apart from each other, slightly.

"Impressive…" Axel nodded, before finally turning and walking off. "I shall now go check on Balsky's preparations. Be careful not to cut yourself, or anyone else in the meantime."

Toxoid smiled and nodded under his dome, as he and Zakembor walked away as well.

* * *

Time had passed since the night at the bar, and Spurg leaving to join Rivet in whatever it was she was doing. Whatever it was, it had taken all night, and then some.

Syrus had taken some time off from his job, and decided, as a nice distraction, to take Ratchet and Clank to a Quantoball game at Staav Industries Stadium, right in the center of Guyvus City.

It was a big deal, as Guyvus City's finest players were hosting a challenging team from the Planet Pleistos, which was nearby. Syrus was able to flex some muscle, though, and get a few box seats for him and his buddies.

The game had now ended, as the trio descended on an elevator.

"Quite a fascinating sport." Clank commented as they went down through the glass tube, looking up to Ratchet. "It seems the Lombaxes weren't the only ones to create hoverboots."

"Yeah…" Ratchet nodded with an amazed smile. "But I've never been able to operate mine with the control and skill that those Zin guys had, especially while holding a ball at the same time."

"I'm just glad my team pulled it out at the end." Syrus smiled, happy that Guyvus City won the game. "From how they looked in the second cycle, I thought they were gonna lose it."

"Well, win or lose…" Ratchet licked off some sauce from his fingers, as he stepped off the elevator. "Those were some damn good ribs."

"Oh yes…" Syrus grinned and nodded as he walked out, with Clank close behind. "Guyvus City's known for its ribs."

"Judging from how many you ate, Ratchet…" Clank walked up quickly now. "You may want to consider a little exercising in the near future."

Ratchet laughed a bit, nodding, before he heard some yelling in the crowd nearby.

Everyone turned to see Toxoid, Balsky, and Zakembor pushing people out of the way, scaring off the crowd, as the form of Axel walked towards the trio, a calm, stoic look on his face, as his sword was still sheathed along his back.

"Looks like I'll be getting that chance to exercise right now." Ratchet spoke as he took out his negotiator, readying a missile.

"At last I find you, outsiders." Axel kept his eyes fixed on Ratchet and Clank, as Syrus stood his ground, readying his pistol. "Your days of interfering in Korthos' affairs are now at an end."

"You bastard…" Ratchet growled a bit. "You're going to pay for what you did to Rusty, and I'm not kidding around. You are going to scream for me to stop doing what I'm going to do!"

Axel laughed in an amused, dismissive fashion. "You are without your star robot, lombax. You can barely fight off a pack of Skabs without breaking a sweat. What makes you think you even have an ice cube's chance in the underworld of defeating me?"

The android then looked to Balsky. "Give them a taste of what I mean…"

The robot nodded slowly and stepped forward. He gathered energy in the palms of his hands, turning into large globes. He tossed one, and then the other, as they both flew towards the trio, smashing into the ground with amazing force, and exploding.

Ratchet jumped out of the way, Clank hopping onto his back, as he pulled Syrus with him. He then let go of Syrus, and quickly fired a missile, it flying straight towards Balsky, as he narrowly dodged it.

Ratchet then pulled out his Doom blade shooter, and fired away several little saws. The group of enemies quickly worked to deflect and dodge them, as Toxoid extended his new claws. He swung them quickly, tearing and breaking apart all the little saws, as he laughed and got into a fighting stance with the weapons.

Ratchet reached for another weapon, Syrus firing away with his pistol, as Zakembor stepped forward and screeched. The screech was loud enough to emit powerful waves of sonic energy.

Ratchet and Syrus both grunted and covered their ears, as Clank felt his audio receptors being scrambled by the blast as well.

This allowed Balsky to run in and Smash Ratchet in the stomach with a punch from one of his powerful fists. The Lombax felt the full force of the blow, as he grunted and flew several feet over the ground, tumbling and falling onto his stomach.

Toxoid then ran in with his claws, and slashed at Syrus. The brave Zin dodged and weaved, avoiding the slashes, before blasting him in the dome with his pistol. It didn't do much damage though, as Toxoid backhanded him with one of his gauntlets, and slashed him across the chest with the claws from the other.

It cut through his shirt, and sliced parts of his chest at the surface, making him bleed a little, as he yelped in pain and fell back. Ratchet soon got up at the sight of this, and ran to his aid.

Zakembor let out another powerful screech, making Ratchet grunt, and fall to his knees. In desperation, the lombax pulled out his omniwrench, aimed, and threw it, before covering both of his ears.

The wrench twirled over, and smacked the biomechanoid right in the throat. He choked and fell back, allowing Ratchet to pull out his dynamo of doom, and through a big ball of energy his way. Zakembor ran, but the ball quickly caught up to him, and zapped him, bowling him over with a great deal of power.

Ratchet quickly pulled the hurt Syrus to safety, as Balsky soon launched another energy ball his way. The lombax rolled to dodge it, as he then tossed a cryo mine at the robot's feet.

The weapon smashed into Balsky's feet, as he felt them freeze up and get very cold. He was unable to move, as Ratchet charged in on his hoverboots now, ready to let the robot have it with a few swipes of his omniwrench.

But, Toxoid soon ran in, and shoulder blocked Ratchet, sending him flying off his path, as he tumbled onto his back, looking up to see Toxoid running towards him with his larger claws drawn.

Ratchet quickly got up, getting ready to face the Biomechanoid leader with a fusion bomb at the ready.

Just as Toxoid was about to attack, however, something suddenly zipped in, and knocked him off of his feet.

Ratchet and the others looked up to see a jet bike flying onto the scene, the rider wearing a familiar looking helmet.

Balsky broke free of the Cryo mine, getting ready to fire at the jet bike, before it fired back with its new, mounted laser, smashing him in the chest. Balsky grunted, and was thrown back from the force, rolling onto his stomach.

The bike soon landed, as the skinny, feminine figure of the rider stepped off of the seat, and removed her helmet.

"You…" Axel spoke, keeping his gaze fixed on the rider.

Rivet scowled as she tossed her helmet aside. She was now wearing Rusty's blue jacket, along with two slender black gloves over her hands.

"I bet you thought you saved Korthos when you killed Rusty…" Rivet spoke to Axel directly. "But you were wrong…I hope you're ready for your mercifully short life to come to an end!"

"Poor child…" Axel shook his head slowly. "I told you that you would not have to mourn your friend for long…and there's nothing I hate more than being known as a liar."

He looked over to one of his fighters. "Toxoid…you've known her the longest. I shall give you the honor."

"With great pleasure, sir!" Toxoid growled with pleasure, grinning evilly under his dome as he approached Rivet.

Rivet was not frightened at all, as she then suddenly shot one of her gloved hands into the air.

"Combat form!" She suddenly shouted.

Toxoid stopped, wondering what was going on, as a flash suddenly came over her. It happened too fast to notice, but Rivet had just sent a signal to HQ, to send millions of tiny particles onto her body, and materialize all at once.

As the flash subsided, Rivet now stood in a slender, impressive suit of armor. It was very similar to Rusty's true robotic form, specially made to fit her slender, female body. One half was red, and the other blue, with many silver coverings, as microchips flashed and glowed all over her body, along with yellow eyes of her helmet.

It was not circuits and wires that powered this suit, though, but the firey heart of a lombax. One who had just suffered a terrible loss, and was now prepared to go all out in stopping the ones who had caused it.

Rivet yelled out as she jumped into the air with great strength, the suit augmenting her natural abilities, heightening her sense of her mind and body, and what they were capable of.

Toxoid blocked with his gauntlets as she came in with a kick, only to have it push him back with a lot of force. He fell back as Balsky ran in and began to punch at her.

Rivet dodged and countered with her own punches, each of them smacking into Balsky's armor with a similarly high amount of force. Balsky backed off for a moment, as Zakembor, having gotten his voice back, screeched a powerful sonic wave attack in her direction.

Rivet was able to roll out of the way of the waves, though, and leapt into the air once more, zipping towards the monster. Zakembor wasn't able to dodge fast enough, as she nailed him with a high-speed gravity kick in the chest, sending him flying and crashing into a parking lot nearby.

Ratchet whipped out his pistol, and fired at Toxoid, keeping him from attacking Rivet from behind, as Axel scowled a bit, and focused his energy for a moment.

"Combat form…" He calmly spoke, as the waves of energy washed through his body once more, transforming him.

Rivet ran back towards Balsky, preparing to meet him again, before the vicious sound of Axel's gun being fired rang through the air. She turned and dodged the shots; as she saw Axel walking towards him, gun still drawn.

"I see you're as inventive as your father…" Axel spoke in his distorted voice now. "Now let's see if you can die as well as he did."

He fired off more rounds from his gun, as Ratchet jumped and dodged the shots once again. She then got on her knee, and powered up one of her gauntlets with plasma, firing the energy off as she tossed it with her hand. The blast flew over and smacked Axel in the hand, making him drop his gun.

As this was going on, Toxoid ran in and slashed away at Ratchet, who jumped, and got out an old weapon he found on the Aphelion, his razor claws. He put them on, and clashed with Toxoid, the two swiping at each other, before Balsky ran over to Toxoid as he backed off for a moment.

"Our leader needs help!" The robot told the biomechanoid leader, as Toxoid looked over, seeing Axel fighting Rivet now, with Zakembor struggling to his feet from far off.

"Very well. I leave this one to you!" Toxoid told Balsky, before running off.

Ratchet then attacked Balsky before he could even start on him, slashing into his armor, as Balsky grunted and sparked, backing off. He then charged up an energy ball, and tossed it at the lombax.

Ratchet had gotten his Dynamo of Doom glove on, but it wasn't quick enough, as he saw Balsky's ball coming towards him.

"Ack!" Ratchet put out his gloved hand as he covered himself and braced for impact.…

But instead of exploding on him, the ball caught itself on his glove.

Ratchet opened his eyes, blinking before he quickly realized…Balsky's energy seemed to made from a similar energy to that of the Dynamo, and thus was reacting to the glove. He looked at it, and grinned to his enemy.

Balsky was shocked at this, panicking as he fired off another ball. Ratchet dodged it, and with a mighty throw of his arm, tossed the caught ball back to the robot, making a direct hit to his chest.

Balsky yelled out loudly as his chest exploded, falling back as his wires and central processor were now exposed. He staggered back to his feet, weakened, as Ratchet took advantage.

"You're outta here!" He grinned as he shouted, imitating the Quantoball referee, as he whipped out his negotiator and fired. The missile travelled towards the exposed chest of Balsky, and slammed into the weakened robot, making his chest explode first, before the rest of him followed suit.

"No!" Axel shouted, turning to see the pieces of Balsky falling to the ground. This distraction allowed Rivet to jump in and nail him across the face with a punch. She then tried to nail him with a roundhouse kick, as Axel dodged, and countered with a punch to the stomach, which she blocked.

The two traded blows for a few more moments, before Toxoid ran in and slashed her across the back with his claws.

"Aaah!" Rivet jumped off to the side as she felt this, her back smoking. The armor protected her flesh, but receiving blows like that could still be painful.

"Enough playtime…" Axel growled as he slowly unsheathed his sword. He brandished the sword, and charged in with it, as he slashed expertly at Rivet.

Rivet dodged and dodged, as she then ducked to avoid a swipe from the side, and kicked him hard in the stomach.

Axel fell back for a moment, and charged in again, as Rivet powered up the gauntlets on both of her hands, now aglow with plasma as she countered his sword swings, the sword and her hands clashing as sparks flew.

Toxoid was about to join in once more, before Ratchet came in and smashed him in the side with a blast from his shotgun.

He turned his attention to the male lombax now, swinging away with his claws once again, as Rivet kept on clashing with Axel. The black android slashed at her diagonally with a powerful swing, as she dodged, making him embed the sword into one of the columns that held up the sporting arena.

Axel grunted, trying to pull the sword out, before Rivet took advantage. She slashed one of her powered up hands through the sword, cleaving the metal in half, before spinning and smacking Axel in the stomach with her fist.

Axel flew through the air backwards, and landed onto his back. He held up the hilt of his now useless sword, and grunted in frustration as he tossed it aside. He then activated a magnet in his hand, causing his gun to fly towards him.

"Damn it all!" He yelled as he caught it, and fired off rounds in a rage, trying to hit Rivet, as she jumped and dodged the firing.

So blind was Axel in his rage, though, that he didn't realize she was leading his shots directly towards Toxoid, who was still clashing with Ratchet and Clank.

One stray shot did just Rivet had predicted, smacking Toxoid in his helmet, and smashing it into pieces.

Toxoid immediately fell back, choking. The area around his dome smoked, as his delicate organic body was now exposed to the air.

Ratchet backed off with a smile as this happened, leaving Rivet to finish the job as she jumped in, letting Toxoid's exposed face have it with several punches from her glowing fists, each one burning his flesh as he shrieked in pain.

Axel quickly realized that Toxoid was lost. Instead of helping his comrade, he quickly got up, and ran off, taking the hurt Zakembor with him, as he found Toxoid's ship, and escaped in it.

The ship was the last thing on Toxoid's mind, however, as he was soon kicked in the stomach by Rivet, making him fall back. He got back onto his feet slowly, choking, as Rivet focused even more of her plasma energy.

She kept all her attention on the vile creature…she remembered all those times, all those years when he had chased her, and Rusty, taunting her, and bullying her all the while. Her anger grew to unbelievable heights as the memories came back, and coupled with her lingering sorrow over Rusty.

"!" She screamed out in a rage under her helmet, before running over to the struggling Toxoid.

She let him have it with one diagonal slash from her one hand, before slashing him with the other. She then crossed her arms, and let loose one final attack, slashing him at once with both hands.

The attack cut deeply into Toxoid's armor, making a greenish substance ooze from diagonal cracks, as more cracks began to appear, bits of his armor fell off a piece at a time.

"How…" Toxoid choked again as he backed away, his crumbling armor smoking. "How…how did such a weak girl like you…attain such power?….I….!"

His armor sparked now, the plasma overpowering him, before his eyes, and then head suddenly exploded in a mess of green gloop. His arms followed in the same messy explosion, before his whole body finally blew up in a green fireball.

Rivet breathed heavily under her armor, before she reached, and pressed a button on her side. The suit soon flashed away from her body, returning to its state of particles, as they traveled back to where they had come from, invisibly.

Ratchet walked up to her from behind, Clank coming down from him, as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You OK?" He asked.

Rivet looked to him, and then gave him a slow smile through her tears, wiping them away. "Never better, Ratchet."

"So…" Clank took a curious look at her new gloves. "I assume that this is what you and Spurg were working on all night?"

Rivet nodded, still smiling. "That…and a lot more…"

"There's more?" Ratchet asked, with a surprised look on his face.

"Of course." Rivet nodded as she got her helmet, and sat back on her bike. "I couldn't leave you guys out of this new venture, now could I? Come back to HQ, and you'll see what I mean…"

With that she took off on the Jet bike.

Ratchet and Clank looked at each other for a moment, before deciding they should do what she said, quickly running away from the arena…


End file.
